The Department of National Defense is checking a report by an Australian news agency that the United States has used the Philippines as one of its spying hubs in the Asia-Pacific region.
“We are checking with our intelligence community,” Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo.
“We are discussing whether it is being felt or if anything is happening. So far, there have been no signs,” he said.
The foreign report by ABC News said that Australia is sharing information with National Security Agency, an agency involved with whistleblower Edward Snowden’s leaks.
“A secret map released by Snowden revealed the US had also set up surveillance facilities in embassies and consulates, including in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Yangon, Manila, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, and Beijing,” the ABC News said.
The report also said that it was the same map that Snowden released to Der Spiegel, a German news magazine. It showed listening posts around the world including Manila.
Meanwhile, Malacanang also declined to comment further on the issue.
“That report was apparently taken from published news items and it would not be appropriate for me to make an official comment at this time,” Press Secretary Herminio Coloma said in a recent press briefing.
