Palace alarmed over arrest of Chinese man with 'spying' device

Malacañang on Wednesday expressed alarm following the arrest of a Chinese national with supposed "spying" equipment spotted near the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Manila.

''It is quite alarming,'' Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said in a briefing.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) did not rule out the possibility that any data acquired could be used to affect the upcoming elections.

Castro ensured that this national security issue would be investigated.

''It’s quite alarming and there is still … the President has this trust on the intelligence agents that made the operation. So, we will just have to wait for the final investigation on that matter,'' she added. 

Earlier reports showed a surveillance video of the National Bureau of Investigation-National Capital Region (NBI-NCR) wherein two Chinese men were supposedly arranging the equipment they believed to be used for spying over the weekend.

Comelec chairperson George Garcia, meanwhile, said there is no need to worry since there is no election data in the Comelec headquarters.

He added that the Comelec conducted a test and its system was not compromised.

The arrested suspect was brought to the NBI-NCR headquarters, as well as the confiscated IMSI catcher which will undergo a digital forensic analysis.

He will face a complaint for violating the Access Device Act and the Cybercrime Prevention Act. —VAL, GMA Integrated News