The Manila Times
MANILA, Philippines —The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Tuesday said it was looking into the possibility that the alleged illegal steel manufacturing plant in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental where 69 undocumented Chinese and one Filipino were arrested could be part of a bigger web of foreign deceptive activities being done in the country. Operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the AFP recovered highly explosive and prohibited urban hazardous materials like urotropine and tungsten. “As to the possibility that this could be part of a bigger web, we have to step back and look at it on a macro level,” Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, AFP spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, told reporters in a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo. Trinidad noted that in the past, authorities have repeatedly caught foreigners, particularly Chinese, who were doing illegal activities in the country. “Chinese nationals with fake identities who were trying to pose off as Filipinos. We have apprehended alleged spies who were conducting mapping operations who had equipment that were not authorized to be with them plus all other incidents of foreign nationals mainly suspected to be Chinese operating in the country,” he said. “This could be another similar activity which we are trying to check if this is part of foreign interference malign influence operations considering that Chinese nationals were involved, Filipinos were part of the labor force and this could be part of the united front works for all we know,” he said. Trinidad said the issue should be looked at in a holistic perspective and connecting surrounding circumstances could shed light on the existence of the operation. The Department of National Defense is establishing a massive 300-hectare Naval Operating Base and dockyard within the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. Set to be the Philippine Navy’s largest facility in Mindanao, the base will serve as the primary operations hub for the Visayas and Northern Mindanao. According to Teodoro, the plant, Phil. Sanjia-Steel Corp. is owned by Chinese businessman Tony Yang, also known as Yang Jian Xin, who had earlier admitted during a Senate hearing that he was not a legitimate Filipino citizen. The plant operates within the Phividec Industrial Estate. “Again, we have to look at it from a macro level. As SND [Secretary of National Defense] mentioned, if there is an angle of economic sabotage, if there is an angle of the environment of labor, it becomes a national security issue,” Trinidad said. Yang was linked to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations. He is currently detained in Cagayan de Oro, where he is said to be facing falsification of public documents, perjury, and anti-alias law violations in local courts.. However, he also faces a deportation case for undesirability for allegedly misrepresenting himself as a Filipino.
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