SPY FIRMS
A veteran lawmaker has urged Malacañang to investigate the reported at least 85 Chinese-owned firms allowed to operate in certain coastal towns of Bataan, Zambales and Pangasinan.
The grant of lease to shoreline property has led to fisherfolk complaining of loss of livelihood.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, lead chair of the House Quad Committee and chair of the House Dangerous Drugs panel, said he has received reliable information from some fishermen in said areas on the suspicious activities of the Chinese-owned firms.
The solon made the call after the Palace ordered an investigation on allegations that arrested Chinese spies – Wang Ingyi, Wu Jaren, Cai Shaohuang and Chen Haitao – donated 10 Chinese-made motorcycles worth around US$2,500 or P144,800 each to the Manila Police.
Wang, according to reports, also had been seen in a Shandong ACFROC social media post in July 2022 of handing over a P500,000 check labeled as a “poverty alleviation bursary” to the mayor of Tarlac City and the local police force.
Barbers said it now seems apparent that the “Chinese spies-invaders” have adopted the same illegal business patterns of the banned POGO operators in the country, befriending and reportedly corrupting certain law enforcement and local government officials, to allow their unhampered nefarious activities in their localities.
Aside from ordering a probe on Chinese spy donations in Manila, the solon from Mindanao also urged the Palace to also dig into the legal basis and protocols used by LGUs along the coastal towns of Zambales, Bataan and Pangasinan in granting the lease to Chinese firms of what supposed to be are government properties along shorelines and agricultural lands to the Chinese-owned firms in their respective localities.
“According to one of my fishermen-sources, halos lahat ng mangingisda sa shorelines na pinaupahan na sa mga Chinese nationals ay nawawalan na ng hanapbuhay dahil itinataboy at hindi sila pinapadaan sa pinaupahan na shorelines,” Barbers said.
Barbers said there are also reports about the presence for almost three months now of two Chinese-owned ships in the waters off two barangay coastal villages of Palauig town in Zambales whose activity cannot be determined because the local Coast Guard and other concerned agencies are either just standing by or keeping a “blind eye” on their presence and activities.
