The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is now monitoring developments in the probe into the reported spying of a Chinese national in the Philippines.
DFA on Thursday, Oct. 3, said that it is taking "seriously" an Al Jazeera report about detained Chinese spy She Zhijiang, who divulged that he began spying the country in 2016 and supposedly worked with dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo for China's Ministry of State Security.
"The department has noted reports containing relevant information on alleged foreign covert operations in the Philippines," Ma. Teresita Daza, DFA spokesperson, said in a press briefing.
"In accordance with its mandate to help protect national security, the department takes such reports seriously and is monitoring relevant developments in this regard," she added.
In an Al Jazeera documentary aired on Sept. 26, She, a Chinese spy detained in Thailand and fighting repatriation to China, urged Guo, who is now facing various investigations in the Philippines, to "tell the world the truth" before she gets "eliminated."
She alleged that he worked with Guo for the Chinese government and even released a dossier containing the dismissed mayor's personal information, including her local address in China's Fujian province, which is also the local address of the Communist Party of China.
Following the release of the documentary that shook up the Philippine government and even Guo, Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gibo Teodoro urged lawmakers to amend the Philippines' espionage laws to allow the government to punish those who engage in spying.
"So this is a call to action, our lawmakers know of the urgent need to amend our espionage law to punish those involved in such acts, and so that the government can move or act to suppress it," Teodoro said.