It all began in 2004, when Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was president, Avelino Cruz was secretary of National Defense.
Peking and Manila signed a memorandum of understanding for an intergovernmental program that would send military officers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines for training in Red China. The aim was for the Philippines to learn “best practices” from Red China and apply these to the Philippine military system.
The implementation then began in 2008 when Alberto Carlos of the Philippine Navy was sent to study a general staff course at the People’s Liberation Army Navy Command College in Nanjing. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was president, Hermogenes Ebdane was secretary of National Defense.
In January 2022, Rodrigo Duterte appointed Carlos to head the AFP Western Command in Palawan. The Wescom is a strategic AFP branch and base. It is a unified command of the country’s three main service branches, namely the military, the navy and the air force. Its task is to secure Palawan and the Spratly islands group in the West Philippine Sea from external aggression. In particular, it is our main defense line against Red Chinese aggressions in the West Philippine Sea.
How very shrewd Duterte was. He knew he had appointed a military officer who was trained in Red China. That must be emphasized – Duterte’s loyalty was obvious.
The wiretapped conversation that the Red Chinese embassy presented to some Manila media appears to connect the dots. Alberto Carlos, vice admiral of the Philippine Navy no less, was caught in that wiretapped phone conversation agreeing to a “new model” arrangement with Red China that could constrain and limit Philippine military action in the WPS.
Now it appears there is more to Carlos than we had known, that he was actually the first Filipino military officer trained by Red China at a naval college there and in fact had completed the course. And here’s the actual number: 38 Filipino military officers from our AFP have been schooled in Red China since 2008.
The Carlos and Red China new model, dubbed “1+1,” would let Red China allow the Philippines to send only 1 resupply boat and 1 Philippine Coast Guard vessel to Ayungin Shoal. In return, Red China would meet them with 1 fishing boat and 1 coast guard vessel. Carlos was said to have committed in the phone conversation that his military superiors “approved” the plan. It was an approval that amounted to surrendering Philippine territory to Red China.
If his Red Chinese friends charmed Vice Admiral Carlos to capitulate for them, what else did Red China extract from the other Filipino alumni of the Red Chinese training? The possibilities could be chilling and could actually tilt current trust relations. But at worst, it exposes the gullibility of our Philippine military establishments to Red Chinese bait.
Palawan News, a community paper in that province where the Philippine Navy’s Western Command is based, had reported that Carlos met with Red China ambassador Huang Xilian in July 21, 2022 at the Red China embassy in Makati. Take note, Huang invited Carlos as “an alumnus of the People’s Liberation Army.”
We note here that Carlos is also a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he was sent by the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) early in his military career.
In that meeting with Huang, Carlos was alleged to have stressed the need to have a “diplomatic approach” over tensions in the West Philippine Sea. Since when have we had military officials usurp the republic’s diplomatic offices? Oh my God.
On May 6 last, there was a most astonishing announcement from Red China. Lian Jian, spokesperson of its Ministry of Foreign Affiars, said Carlos’s “new model” had been reached early this year after multiple rounds of discussions between Red China diplomats and the AFP Wescom. If this is true, that signifies Carlos has been in continuing touch with the Red Chinese embassy between July 2022 and January 2024.
The discovery of the Filipino alumni of Red China came first as a shock in the senate in August 2023. At that time, ranking officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines faced confirmation of their appointments at the congressional Commission on Appointments. They were discovered to have been schooled at the Beijing Military Academy and other training institutions of the communist People’s Liberation Army.
One senator exclaimed it was a slap in the face. Even the Philippine National Police had been sending its police cadets to Red China for training. The irony was scandalizing: the Philippines has been sending our soldiers for training in the country that harasses us in the West Philippine Sea.
The training is a yearlong. Imagine the camaraderie that develops in one year.
AFP Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner cut the program in August 2023 after the senate’s discovery.
Brawner has been cooperating. He has disclosed that current military officers including some generals are being approached by Red China to support its territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea. Brawner said they are being recruited by Red China to perform espionage activities in the WPS.
Related to it is the entry of Red Chinese nationals of military age to the Philippines who have applied for special resident retiree visas with the Philippine Retirement Authority. Foreign retirees granted special visas numbered 78,000, with about 30,000 of them Red Chinese.
Listen to this: one Filipino military alumnus revealed that he was asked by his former Red Chinese classmate in Peking to share materials about the Balikatan military drills to him. See where the Arroyo agreement has gone. See where the Duterte kowtow has brought us to infinite abasement before the Red Chinese emperors.
Red China also went on soft enticement sprees. It hosted “alumni events” for the Filipino military officers. We have a Philippine military that holds no malice for Red Chinese seductions, not to mention geopolitical implications. Alarm does not even come close to how we should properly react.
Apparently, the Red Chinese push is for a full-blown espionage work recruiting active military officials. Undersecretary for Cybersecurity Jeffrey Ian Dy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology also confirmed the alarming disclosure, saying Red Chinese firms have disguised themselves as American and European organizations to avoid suspicion.
The jobs offered are for military online analysts. The DICT discovered the scheme only this December 2023. Upon analysis of the domain name origins, they were found to have come from registered Red Chinese companies. The announcements offered “hundreds of dollars per hour” for the online work.
The Philippine military establishment has serially denied the Red Chinese revelations about Carlos. National Security Adviser Eduardo Año has demanded for the expulsion of the embassy’s diplomats involved.
But that is minuscule. The traitorous exchange was reciprocal. Government must launch a serious investigation on who the military generals are who have compromised our national security.
And betrayed the Republic of the Philippines. That includes Arroyo and Duterte.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.