Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he was “very disturbed” and security officials vowed continued vigilance after authorities accused six Chinese nationals in January 2025 of surveilling the country’s military facilities and operations.
Gen. Romeo Brawner, the Philippines’ military chief, said it was premature to conclude that the spying was state sponsored, with authorities yet to identify the recipient of the intelligence. “This is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg; many can still be caught doing these activities,” Brawner said. “There are more of them.”
“We are very disturbed by anyone conducting such espionage operations against our military,” Marcos said.
The arrests came amid increasing confrontations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Philippines over reefs and waters in the strategic South China Sea, including within Manila’s exclusive economic zone. The PRC claims most of the sea as its territory despite an international tribunal’s 2016 ruling negating the arbitrary assertion.
Two of the suspects were arrested in Manila in late January after authorities said they conducted surveillance on Philippine Navy and other government vessels that supply military garrisons in the Spratly archipelago. Using a drone and high-resolution, solar-powered camera, the men recorded activities at a naval base, a Coast Guard station, an air base and a dockyard in Palawan province, the closest major landmass to the Spratlys, Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Jaime Santiago said.
The suspects had images of Philippine Navy small boats, the Navy patrol ship BRP Ramon Alcaraz and Philippine Coast Guard vessels, the United States Naval Institute publication USNI News reported in February 2025.
The suspects purported to be buyers of marine products or members of legitimate organizations, authorities said. “We consider them very dangerous to national security because, of course, if this falls into other hands, this could be very dangerous for our personnel in the base and also those on board our ships,” Brawner said.
Two other suspects were arrested elsewhere in Manila and another in the central city of Dumaguete in late January, Santiago said. The apprehensions followed the early January arrest of Chinese software engineer Deng Yuanqing and two Filipino associates suspected of spying on military and police camps — allegations the PRC embassy in Manila dismissed.
Deng is accused of mapping and surveying critical infrastructure and strategic areas such as military installations, ports, malls, communication and energy grids, seaports and airports, The Philippine Star newspaper reported.
NBI cybercrime unit chief Jeremy Lotoc said a witness told authorities Deng met with the five other detained suspects monthly, acting on instructions from an unnamed “foreign national” in China.
Equipment recovered from the suspects included video footage from drones and military-grade, high-resolution video cameras disguised to resemble civilian closed-circuit televisions, officials said. “That could be why in the past, ships were always aware when we deploy Coast Guard and naval resupply ships,” Brawner said.
Some of the suspects have been living in the Philippines since 2002 and do not have criminal records, Immigration Bureau spokeswoman Dana Sandoval said.
Philippine National Security Advisor Eduardo Ano said the arrests underscore the need for “continued vigilance and proactive counterintelligence measures.”
