MANILA — The Armed Forces of the Philippines is guarding against troops being recruited as analysts by China-based firms pretending to be from Western countries but said it has no indication that any active military personnel have signed up.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology this week warned that firms pretending to be based in the US or in Europe have been trying to recruit retired and active duty military personnel into part-time jobs.

“Wala pa tayong actual na report as to the personality nitong mga taong involved, kasi yung iba pong andun sa comment section apparently ay already out of the service,” Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, AFP spokesperson, said on TeleRadyo Serbisyo.

(We haven’t received reports of active personnel involved because some of the people in the comment section [of the recruitment posts]] are already out of the service.)

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Though further verification is yet to be done, Padilla said the military leadership is already warning troops against being lured into applying, and eventually being recruited.

“On a daily basis, meron naman po talaga tayong mga talk to troops down the lines hanggang sa pinakamababang units ng armed forces. So we remind them to be wary of these things,” she said.

(On a daily basis, we have lines of communication with the troops until the smallest units of the armed forces, so we remind them to be wary of these things.)

She said that the online recruitment has been going on since last December.

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