LACSON TELLS SENATE: MARCOLETA'S WEST PHILIPPINE SEA POSITIONS MIRROR CHINA'S FOREIGN MINISTRY WEBSITE — AS AFP CONFIRMS BRP SIERRA MADRE PERSONNEL DATA MAY HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED

Three suspects are in military custody.

That is where the AFP's espionage case now stands. The Armed Forces of the Philippines confirmed that personnel data from BRP Sierra Madre — the grounded warship used as the Philippines' forward position at Ayungin Shoal — may have been compromised in China-linked espionage, according to ABS-CBN's March 11 report. The data targeted included troop identities and military modernization plans. The AFP said the leak could endanger lives during resupply missions.

Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela said no critically sensitive national security information was compromised. But the breach connects directly to the earlier arrest of three Filipino defense personnel for spying for China — a case the AFP has since described as closed.

The three suspects have confessed to their involvement and are cooperating with authorities.

WHAT WAS TARGETED

The espionage was not random. Spy handlers were specifically probing for information about personnel deployed aboard BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal, including details that could be used to identify troops and pressure their families, according to Manila Bulletin's March 8 report citing AFP spokesperson Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad.

The information sought included government positions on the West Philippine Sea, defense diplomacy plans, and naval modernization programs.

Trinidad noted that China has repeatedly attempted to block resupply missions to BRP Sierra Madre. The discovery that Filipino spies were feeding information to their handlers could explain why Chinese forces appeared to know in advance how some of those missions would be carried out.

Reuters reported on March 5 that one of the suspects used a government-issued phone with a hidden messaging app — a Tetris game that, when a specific code was entered, unlocked a covert communications channel used to contact his handler.

ON THE SENATE FLOOR

On the same day the AFP confirmed the BRP Sierra Madre data breach, the Senate was dealing with a parallel front.

In a privilege speech delivered Tuesday, March 10, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson presented evidence that Senator Rodante Marcoleta's statements on the West Philippine Sea closely mirror posts on the official website of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Lacson displayed slides during the speech, telling the Senate that Marcoleta's positions on the West Philippine Sea were "plucked directly from the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs' official website" — and that the two sets of statements could be seen side by side.

Among the specific parallels Lacson identified: Marcoleta's insistence in a Senate hearing on February 24 that lawyer-businessman Tomas Cloma did not discover what is now the Kalayaan Island Group. The China MFA website says the Philippine government "did not know about Cloma's activities or give him the consent before he took his moves." Marcoleta had called Cloma's claim a historical distortion. The MOFA website calls the terra nullius argument "groundless."

In an ambush interview on March 11, Lacson said: "It's unsettling, to say the least. Because this is national security that we're talking about, especially that the situation is quite dangerous or delicate."

THE RESOURCE SPEAKERS WHO BEGGED OFF

The privilege speech came a day before Marcoleta had scheduled a hearing — a hearing that fell apart before it started.

The resource speakers Marcoleta had invited for the March 12 event declined to attend, citing national security concerns. This was disclosed by Marcoleta himself during a Commission on Appointments national defense committee hearing on March 11.

The individuals Marcoleta had publicly criticized are the same ones who declined to appear: Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, the PCG's West Philippine Sea spokesperson; former Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio; and Jay Batongbacal, Professor and Director of the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

Marcoleta labeled as "baseless" three specific positions: Carpio's assertion that there is no need to formally announce the coordinates of the country's exclusive economic zone, Tarriela's claim that there are no "disputes" in the West Philippine Sea, and Batongbacal's comments on the Philippines' UN map submissions.

THE WORD THAT GOT STRICKEN

At the same March 11 CA hearing, Marcoleta referred to the public statements of Tarriela, Carpio, and Batongbacal as idle chatter — a characterization that drew an immediate objection from Senator Risa Hontiveros, who argued those statements should not be dismissed as empty talk given who made them.

CA panel chair Representative Jose S. Aquino II temporarily halted the hearing.

Marcoleta defended his word choice, saying he used the expression because he believed their statements lacked foundation. Hontiveros moved to have the term stricken from the official record, the committee adopted the motion, and Marcoleta eventually consented, according to the Inquirer's account of the proceedings.

TWO THREADS, ONE WEEK

The espionage case and the Senate debate arrived at the same point in the same week.

The AFP is processing a breach in which personnel data from BRP Sierra Madre was exposed to foreign intelligence. Three men are in custody. The case is considered closed.

At the Senate, Lacson stood at the podium and asked, on the record: "On the West Philippine Sea — which side of the South China Sea is Senator Marcoleta on?"

Marcoleta's response to reporters: "How did I defend China? You tell me, when?"