AFP insists arrested Chinese a 'sleeper agent'

Despite denials from his Filipina wife and while still under probe by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), detained suspected Chinese spy Yuanqing Deng was clearly a "sleeper agent" involved in espionage activities, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) insisted yesterday.

- By MICHAEL PUNONGBAYAN

The military said Deng was nabbed in Makati City last Jan. 17 in possession of spying equipment.

Before his arrest, he was reportedly traveling around the country doing mapping and surveying of critical infrastructure facilities and strategic areas like military installations, ports, malls, communications grids, energy grid, and major seaports and airports including sites for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

"At this point, this is an ongoing investigation. And so, we could not categorically say that we can disclose any details regarding the case. But in terms of the interview that was conducted with the wife, the Armed Forces of the Philippines understands her concern, being of course emotionally involved, being a wife, a mother," AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla told reporters.

"But for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, we look into the evidence-based results of this investigation, and anything in our power to help in aiding that the truth come out from this," she said.