By Genalyn Kabiling

President Duterte believes all countries are engaged in espionage even from a distance and considers such activity as “natural,” Malacañang said Monday.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo bared the President’s stance on modern surveillance after declaring Duterte was not worried about the presence of Chinese online gaming hubs near local military facilities since the country had the intelligence gathering capability, too.

The latest remarks came after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenza raised concern that Chinese online gaming hubs near military camps could be used for espionage in the country.

“The President and I were talking about it yesterday and he was saying that—you know, you don’t even have to be near any military camp if you want to gather intelligence. He said that – concerning the high-tech now – even if they are far away from China, if they want to spy us, they can,” Panelo said in a television interview.

“And in fact, all countries, as he correctly said, are spying with each other, natural lang iyon eh [It’s natural],” he added.

Panelo, in a later Palace press briefing, said that China can spy on the Philippines even if it was thousand miles away.

“The President said countries do spy on each other. That’s I think that’s SOP for all countries,” he added.

Panelo, however, said the President was “not worried” about the Chinese gaming hubs near military camps even though he recognized Lorenzana’s concern as “legitimate.”

He said the government had the intelligence monitoring capability, adding that they shared the view of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. that the important thing was “we know where they are.”

The government also considers the online gaming hubs as part of a revenue generating industry for the country, according to Panelo.

“That’s very important, we need money, revenue, that’s legitimate revenue making project. We are not worried about the security that they are posing to us. Eh, kaya naman daw natin sabi ni Presidente na malaman kung ano ang gusto nilang gawin sa atin [The President said we have the capability to know what they are doing],” he said.

The Palace, meantime, left it to the security officials and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Authority (PAGCOR) to decide on whether or not to transfer the gaming hubs away from the military facilities.

“I think PAGCOR and the security officials can meet and agree, para masagot natin iyong security concerns na binibigay ni Secretary Lorenzana [to address the security concerns raised by Secretary Lorenzana],” he said.