Philippine resupply mission data leaked to Chinese intelligence, security official says

The accused showed Reuters the phone, which contained a Tetris game that, when a code was entered, opened a hidden messaging platform that he said he used to communicate with his handler. "What I can say is that they're cooperating with our security services," Valencia said. "They have confessed and admitted to it. They disclosed the data that they were able to get and share, the assessments they made and how they were recruited."

China's Foreign Ministry rejected the Philippines' accusations, saying on Thursday: "We object to it, the case is not clear and there is no conclusive evidence."

Another accused person told Reuters that he was initially approached by a Filipina acquaintance when he was a junior staffer at the Department of National Defence with an offer to write opinion articles in return for money. That later expanded to providing information related to the South China Sea and the defence ministry's bilateral engagement with Philippine allies, including the US, he said.