Former Bamban mayor Alice Guo attends during the House Quad Comm hearing into Illegal POGOs, illegal drugs, and alleged EJKs during the Duterte administration in Quezon City on September 19, 2024. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file

MANILA — The government has “effective counter intelligence efforts” against foreign spies operating in the country, an official from the National Security Council (NSC) said on Saturday, a day after a House panel tackled a documentary that claimed that Chinese sleeper agents have been operating in the Philippines.

"The Philippines’ counter intelligence efforts are 'not only against PRC MSS spies but also other foreign spies operating in the country',” NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said, referring to the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of State Security (PRC-MSS).

"Regarding the documentary on self-confessed MSS agent She Zhijiang, we have yet to validate the information mentioned considering that the person is not entirely credible being a wanted criminal and leader of an international crime syndicate,” Malaya told ABS-CBN News.

"For all we know, this could be another disinformation operation. We have to tread carefully,” he said.

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Malaya declined to comment on former Bamban mayor Alice Guo’s possible involvement in the operations of Chinese spies in the Philippines, noting that “criminal cases have already been filed against her while investigation on her other illegal activities continue.”

Meantime, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said that it has “contingency plans in place” amid reports of foreign spy operations in the country.

"Our intelligence operatives are doing their roles in this. We are getting all the information that we need,” said AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla.

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"We have contingency plans in place and our units are ready to perform our mandate of securing the nation and our sovereignty,” she said.

"In the case of national security concerns, rest assured that the AFP will be performing our mandate, and of course, supporting in the investigation on how the AFP can be in aid of this,” she said.

Al Jazeera earlier reported that She Zhijiang confessed to being recruited to become a Chinese spy in 2016 when he was staying in the Philippines.

He alleged that Guo sought his help to fund her campaign as Bamban mayor, adding that the dismissed local chief executive knows a lot about about China’s spy operations in the Philippines.

Guo has denied the allegations as she faced a House panel looking into her ties to illegal gambling operations in Tarlac. Guo said she intends to file formal charges against her accuser.

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