AFP takes control of 3 Filipinos in espionage probe

Three Filipinos involved in espionage activities have been placed under the control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) after being uncovered by the military’s internal security program, a Philippine Navy official said Tuesday.

Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the espionage activities were detected through the AFP’s Insider Threat Program (ITP), which was launched following the implementation of the country’s comprehensive archipelagic defense posture.

“First and foremost, the insider threat program (ITP) of the AFP, which was launched just after the comprehensive Archipelagic Defense posture mentioned by the SND (Secretary of National Defense) that we will be implementing has uncovered and stopped espionage activities with the exposure of four of the persons who were involved. Three of them have been approached and they cooperated. They are now under the control of the AFP,” Trinidad said.

He added that a fourth individual, a Philippine Navy officer, rejected attempts to recruit him.

“The fourth one, a Philippine Navy officer refused the offer given to him. I would like to highlight number one, the ITP, the internal threat program is working as manifested by these accomplishments. Number two, it is continually being evaluated and enhanced. Number three, there is a need for legislation to give us the right tools to be able to address threats like this,” he said.

Trinidad said the leaked information involved operational data related to activities in the West Philippine Sea, including plans concerning naval modernization and strategic basing.

However, he emphasized that the compromised information was limited to classified material and did not threaten the country’s priorities in the disputed waters, particularly operations in Ayungin Shoal.

“We have classifications for our information classified, confidential, secret and top secret. Their access level was to classified information,” Trinidad said.

He declined to disclose further details, noting that follow-up operations related to the case remain ongoing.

“Any subsequent operations arising out of this accomplishment that are still considered active cases, we will not divulge, considering that they are still they are operational matters,” Trinidad added.