Palace to study reported donations of alleged Çhinese spies

Malacañang will study the reported donations made by alleged Chinese spies to two police forces and a local government unit (LGU), Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said on Monday.

''As of now, pag-aaralan po natin 'yan kung ito po ay naging donasyon in good faith, kailangan po talaga natin malaman dahil hindi naman po masama tumanggap ng donasyon,'' Castro said at a Palace press briefing. 

(As of now, we will study that to determine if the donation was made in good faith, we need to know that because there's nothing wrong with accepting donations.)

Castro also mentioned that at the height of the pandemic, ambulances were donated by China to the local government of Davao City.

''Wala pong masama kung tatanggap ng donasyon if it's done in good faith. Kung ito naman po pala ay ibinigay pero mayroong kakaibang dahilan for that, kailangan po natin imbestigahan 'yan kung sino man po 'yung mga tumanggap na mga opisyal na LGU dapat siguro malaman natin para di na po maulit kung sila man po ay nagagamit, kung di man nila alam na nagagamit sila,'' she said. 

(There's nothing wrong if the donation was done in good faith. We need to investigate if the donation was given due to other reasons, including those LGU officials who accepted the donation, so that they will not be 'used,' if they don't know that they were used.)

An exclusive report by Reuters stated that about three Chinese nationals, accused of espionage, who as leaders of socio-civic groups made donations to the city of Tarlac and two police forces.

They were among five Chinese men detained by Philippine investigators in late January for allegedly gathering images and maps of Philippine naval forces near the South China Sea.

Philippine authorities then said the exposé would trigger “closer scrutiny” of foreign socio-civic groups’ activities in the country.

The Philippine National Police - Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is already looking into the matter.—AOL, GMA Integrated News