AFP considers recruitment of soldiers by Chinese firms a 'national concern'

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has considered the reported recruitment of soldiers and persons with military backgrounds allegedly by Chinese firms as a national concern. 

In a state-run public briefing on Wednesday, AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the social media page reportedly used for recruitment was already taken down.

"We have been checking the veracity of the reports whether we have active personnel and even retired personnel who have applied to this social media page, apparently, this site has already been taken down as of this moment, it's now gone," she said. 

She did not elaborate the details of how the page was taken down.

However, Padilla noted that the AFP has secured the screenshots of the page urging active and retired military personnel to apply as part-time analysts for the social media page.

"As of this time we are investigating whether we have personnel involved in the application," she added. 

Padilla stressed that anything illegally conducted through cyberspace domain is "considered a cybercrime."

"We have been checking, in coordination with other agencies, about the source of this account and if should there any violation happened through this means, especially the disclosure or leaking of any military information by uniformed personnel," she said. 

"We are considering this as a national security concern," she pointed out. 

Citing the initial results of the AFP's investigation, Padilla said no active military have been caught involved in the recruitment, but clarified that the AFP could not check the "private messages" of the prospective applicants.

"We still haven't verified if those who introduced themselves as military are really members of the armed forces," she noted. 

"Of course, the armed forces, is taking this thing seriously, so we are checking on this seriously," she added. 

Padilla sees that the culprits might want to acquire and access internal data from the AFP.

"Any attack in the cyber domain can be, of course, monetary or data-driven so they want to get internal data from the armed forces," she said.  

She said the AFP personnel have already been briefed about such suspicious social media engagements.

"We always remain professional so we are telling our troops they need to be vigilant and careful, we remind them always to be wary of these things," she added.