MANILA (UPDATE) — The Philippine military and law enforcers on Monday announced the arrest of a Chinese national and 2 Filipino "cohorts" suspected of conducting espionage activities in the country.

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"Yung nahuli natin, isang Chinese national na based on our open source intelligence, with assistance from our Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), is a graduate [of a university] controlled and operated by the People's Liberation Army (PLA)," NBI Cybercrime Division chief Jeremy Lotoc said in a press conference.

PLA is the military of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China.

Lotoc said the Chinese "spy" was a specialist in "control engineering." He was arrested while inside a vehicle driven by the 2 Filipino "cohorts" last January 17 in Makati City.

"Meron na po silang mapa kung saan iikot. In fact, ang plano po nila pagkatapos nilang maikot yung buong Luzon, yung next target nila buong Visayas at Mindanao," Lotoc added.

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Authorities found in the vehicle some high-tech equipment allegedly used for spying.   

"We found out that they have a laser sensor... May GPS tracker, nakakakuha ng frequency sa critical structures tulad ng military bases, police camps. Nagko-collate sila ng data, they have a remote equipment na tina-transfer in real time sa labas ng ating bansa. Alarming in a sense that it's producing coordinates pero puwedeng gamitin to control. Malalaman yung structure natin lalo na yung may interest dito,” Lotoc said.

NBI director Jaime Santiago said they received the information about the "Chinese crew" in December last year.

Lotoc called the foreign national a "sleeper" agent.

"Tinawag namin syang sleeper kasi throughout our monitoring, yung galawan niya talagang nasa normal lang, kaya niyang mag-blend in sa iba't ibang grupo. Hindi po sya pansinin," he said.

The NBI said the Chinese man has been in the Philippines for more or less 5 years.

According to AFP chief-of-Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner, Jr., the group led by the alleged Chinese spy had visited areas where Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites are located. 

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"When we looked at the areas that this group went to, nakita namin na mga EDCA sites yung iba, so it's very possible that the coordinates and the topography could be used for military purposes, military targeting purposes," he said.

Brawner believes Chinese espionage began earlier than last year when they arrested a Chinese national for possessing an equipment supposedly used for spying.

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"We believe na nagsimula yung espionage ng China even prior to the apprehension of the equipment last year. But nakita po natin just recently yung paggamit po nila ng mga equipment na ito," he said.

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The AFP said it was also investigating the possible connection between the arrested Chinese "spies" to the underwater drones found in different parts of the country. —With reports from Zyann Ambrosio, ABS-CBN News