By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of National Defense (DND) has fired back at the Chinese Embassy, accusing it of dodging the hard questions surrounding the arrest of 69 Chinese nationals at a steel plant in Misamis Oriental.
DND Assistant Secretary Arsenio Andolong said the embassy’s response to Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. failed to directly confront the allegations and circumstances behind the May 15 operation at Philippine Sanjia-Steel Corp. in Tagoloan.
Instead of providing concrete answers, Andolong said, the embassy resorted to questions and statements that avoided the substance of the controversy.
“This is a classic example of evasiveness and a badge of deception. This is in legal practice an implied admission of culpability,” Andolong said.
“They cannot hide behind their disingenuous misinformation,” he added.
The confrontation followed the Chinese Embassy’s criticism of Teodoro over his statements concerning the arrests at the steel facility.
The embassy questioned why the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) participated in the raid and why Chinese employees were detained instead of the plant’s owners and operators.
But for the DND, those questions did not answer the more serious allegations raised against the facility.
Teodoro said the Chinese nationals arrested during the operation were involved in unlawful activities. He cited alleged violations involving the processing of substandard and radioactively contaminated steel, the discharge of untreated polluted wastewater into nearby rivers, and the release of untreated toxic fumes.
The operation involved the AFP, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and other law enforcement agencies.
Teodoro also previously identified Tony Yang as the owner of the facility.
Yang is the brother of Michael Yang, who served as an economic adviser to former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The defense secretary made the disclosure after the May 15 operation as authorities pursued the circumstances surrounding the steel plant and the activities taking place there.
The DND’s latest statement now puts the Chinese Embassy’s response under renewed scrutiny, with Andolong accusing Beijing’s representatives of attempting to shift the discussion away from the allegations involving the facility.
For the defense department, the issue is no longer simply about the arrests.
It is about whether the questions raised over the steel plant, its operations and the alleged violations will be answered directly—or buried beneath diplomatic rhetoric.
ia/xf
