On the eve of the Philippines’ celebration of “Araw ng Kagitingan” or Day of Valor, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was ordered to confront what — if true — would be treason during wartime, or a betrayal most foul at any other time.

This as AFP Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. on Monday confirmed to reporters receiving marching orders to investigate reports that China has recruited Filipinos with military backgrounds to spy for it in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

“We are still checking this,” Brawner said in a press conference to confirm the order the AFP received from the Department of National Defense (DND). “We are still in the process of checking this.”

The talk within the intelligence community has it that past and present Filipino military officers, including some generals, have been approached to operate in furtherance of China’s territorial claim in the South China Sea, which overlaps the WPS.

“The DND has directed the AFP to investigate this,” Defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong told journalists on Monday, hinting at an “inter-agency investigation.”

“Because in cyber [warfare], it’s very difficult to determine the footprint they want to hide [in],” Andolong explained. “Unfortunately, there are actors who have ulterior motives when they conduct actions in cyberspace.”

Andolong said the DND and the AFP are taking the cyber security threats seriously, including the alleged spying on the country’s exclusive economic zone in the WPS.

“We are not alarmed, per se; it depends on what you mean by alarmed. But we are taking this incident seriously. We want to be careful,” the DND official said.

Pearl Harbor spy

Spies and so-called “sleeper cells” had been well-noted in previous wars, including Takeo Yoshikawa, who relied on his memory to record details about the United States Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Yoshikawa’s spying — noting the ship types, numbers and their anchor locations — played a crucial role in the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that dragged the US into World War 2.

According to other reports, which DAILY TRIBUNE is trying to independently confirm, Filipino trolls had also been recruited by China to sow disinformation and divide Filipinos.

The Philippines has filed a number of formal protests against China’s increasingly belligerent actions against Philippine vessels in the WPS, including its use of water cannons on resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal.

A 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration affirmed the Philippines’ 200-nautical exclusive economic zone in the WPS, while declaring as baseless China’s nine-dash line claim to nearly the whole of the South China Sea.

Beijing would later add another dash to its claim to cover Taiwan, which it said it would reunify with the mainland, “using force if necessary.”

As Brawner and Andolong vowed to unmask possible spies, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in Bacolod City that the Philippines is exhausting efforts to de-escalate tensions in the WPS.

“We are continuing to talk at a ministerial level, at a sub-ministerial level, at a people-to-people level,” the President said.

Interoperability

“We are doing everything we can to engage with the Chinese leadership... to avoid clashes, avoid cannons, avoid water cannons, so that it doesn’t escalate to that level again,” he added.

He expressed hope the Philippines’ recent joint military exercise with the United States, Japan and Australia would temper China’s aggression.

Beijing berated the Philippines for inviting the three countries to what geopolitical experts described as a “show of force” by the allies, which China tried to match with a naval and air display just miles away.

“The cruises that we are conducting had been planned for a long time,” Marcos said. “The interim report that I am getting is that these are very useful in terms of interoperability so that each navy knows how the other navy operates.”