Commission on Election (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia allayed fears on Tuesday, April 29, following the arrest of a Chinese national with spy devices just outside of the poll body's main office in Intramuros by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

"Wala po kami election data sa main. Kaya po wala dapat ikabahala (We don’t have election data in the main [office]. That’s why there’s no need for concern)," Garcia said in a message to reporters.

"We run the test, nothing was compromised on any of our system," he added.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Francis "Tol" Tolentino on the arrest of the Chinese national caught with an IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) Catcher.

He said this further bolsters what they exposed in their Senate inquiry last week that China is actively operating to interfere in the coming elections.

"The arrest is the product of tons of intelligence work, thus I laud the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for its timely action to thwart this insidious plan to advance Beijing's agenda while undermining our electoral process," he said.

"As the principal author of Senate Bill 2951, the proposed Counter Foreign Interference Act, I commit to push for stricter guidelines and higher penalties to bring up to par to the digital era our antiquated anti-espionage laws that date back to the Commonwealth period," he added.

Tolentino said that with the government, intelligence community, and people working together, any sinister attempt to compromise the integrity of our government institutions and democratic process is doomed to fail.