PCG notes 'creeping intrusion' of foreign agents in auxiliary unit

The infiltration of foreign agents, including Chinese individuals, into the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA) is seen as a "creeping intrusion" that poses a security threat, an official of the agency said Wednesday.

"The PCG Auxiliary is a voluntary service. It's a social civic organization under the PCG. Right then, during that time there were no perceived threats, interference from foreign agents," PCG's representative Captain Xerxes Fernandez said in a Senate hearing on the proposed new anti-espionage law.

"But right now, we see that there is a creeping intrusion into our security environment or security infrastructure," he added.

He made the statement after Senator Risa Hontiveros cited the delisting of 36 Chinese nationals in PCGA during the last administration, as well as businessman Joseph Sy over questionable citizenship.

Fernandez assured that the PCGA is now improving its screening process for applicants.

"Right now, we're stepping up our vetting process especially for the members of PCGA. I think the last one to be delisted was Commodore Sy, which was caught recently. He was part of the Coast Guard, entered the Coast Guard Auxiliary in 2018," he said.

"Right now we are finding out that there were Chinese nationals who were enlisted in the PCGA," he added.

Alice Guo 2.0

Hontiveros on Monday flagged the enlisting of Sy in PCGA, saying he is just posing as a Filipino like former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo.

She said Sy, who chairs the mining company Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc., was recently detained by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for reportedly holding fraudulently acquired Philippine identity documents.

The BI confirmed that the Sy was the Chinese man identified as Chen Zhong Zhen, 60, who was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Terminal 3 last August 21 for misrepresenting himself as a Filipino. — VDV, GMA Integrated News