MANILA – Malacañang has sounded alarm following the arrest of a Chinese national with supposed “spying” equipment near the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Manila recently.
According to Presidential Communications Office’s Undersecretary Claire Castro, this national security issue would be investigated upon the orders of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“’It’s quite alarming and there is still … the President has this trust on the intelligence agents that made the operation. So, we will just have to wait for the final investigation on that matter,” Castro said.
A surveillance video of the National Bureau of Investigation – National Capital Region (NBI-NCR) showed two Chinese men were supposedly arranging the equipment they believed to be used for spying over the weekend.
The NBI said they are not ruling out the possibility that any data acquired could be used to affect the upcoming elections.
However, Comelec chairperson George Garcia said there is no need to worry since there is no election data in the Comelec headquarters and its system was not compromised.
The arrested suspect, who is now at NBI-NCR headquarters, will face a complaint for violating the Access Device Act and the Cybercrime Prevention Act./PN
