MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Michael Yang, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s economic adviser, was a “central figure” in Chinese intelligence operations in the Philippines.
The senator made the remark during a public hearing by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on human trafficking and scamming activities in the country.
Hontiveros expressed alarm over the widespread and deeply rooted espionage activities in the Philippines, reportedly perpetrated by China and Chinese nationals.
She said Yang, who was also involved in the Pharmally scandal, “is a key actor in Chinese intelligence operations here.”
Hontiveros said files on dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, and her family showed that Guo was an intelligence agent for China.
“I was shocked by the information, which confirms some of my earlier theories that scam cities are used to sow disinformation campaigns to influence hearts and minds,” Hontiveros said.
“It seems that the purpose of these compounds is not only gambling, scams and trafficking, but also fake news,” she said.
Hontiveros claimed that a spa in Newport City in Pasay displayed a QR code in their buffet area that “when popped up, displayed a telegram group called Hongsheng to support overseas bosses.”
“I don’t know if this is the Hongsheng of Guo Hua Ping in Bamban, but nothing surprises me anymore at this point. It also has a video containing a mishmash of anti-US statements and a call to serve the motherland,” Hontiveros said.
Francisco Ashley Acedillo, deputy director general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, said that the intelligence community has not yet determined whether Guowas “a spy or an agent of influence.”
He said that the two–a foreign intelligence agent and an agent of influence–are different. He said there was no determination that Guo was trained or being supervised by a foreign intelligence agency.
“However, within the historical context, given that these activities have been common especially during the Cold War, the activities and the facts that have come to light so far in this committee and in other committees, especially in the House [of Representatives], point to the fact that she (Guo) is [an agent of influence],” he said.
“And even in discussions within the intelligence community, there is consensus that indeed she is an agent of influence,” Acedillo said.
