By Adrian H. Halili, Reporter

THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Monday said that the suspected Chinese spy they had arrested accessed data containing the identity of about 5,000 mobile phone subscribers using an international mobile subscriber identity device (IMSI) device.

At a Senate committee hearing, NBI spokesman Ferdinand M. Lavin said the alleged spy drove near the offices of the Supreme Court, Department of Justice, Villamor Airbase, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Commission on Elections (Comelec) to eavesdrop on their employees.

“Our technical intelligence informed us that (the IMSI catcher) had accessed about 5,000 mobile subscribers’ identities,” he told senators.

The IMSI is a phone eavesdropping device used to intercept mobile communications and track location data by acting as a fake mobile tower.

Mr. Lavin said the device accessed the personal data not of only employees working there but also passersby who happened to be within the IMSI range.

“The range is between 500 meters to 3 kilometers,” he said. “We can just imagine that in a highly populated area, especially in the metropolis, they picked up a lot.”

He said that NBI expects to finish the cyber-forensic lab exam and release an initial report before the May 12 election next week.

“We will also do an analysis on the data captured by the IMSI device,” Mr. Lavin added, noting that they would send a copy of their report to the Comelec.

Last week, authorities arrested a Chinese national after being caught allegedly carrying the telephone eavesdropping device near the Comelec headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.

The bureau monitored the suspect’s activities for five days before taking action on April 29.

At same hearing, Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said the agency’s data remained uncompromised.

“As far as the Comelec is concerned, there were no systems compromised as the election data were not present in our main office (in Intramuros). It is in another place,” he added.

He said that there is a misinformation and disinformation campaign against the election body.

“We noticed, since last month, there have been efforts against the Comelec of a massive misinformation and disinformation campaign… There is mind conditioning,” Mr. Garcia added.

He said he expects the disinformation campaign to intensify in the coming days before the election next week.

Earlier, the National Security Council said that there were “indications” that China was trying to sway the midterm national and local elections in favor of its bets.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila has denied these claims.

Filipinos will pick a new set of congressmen, 12 of the 24-member Senate and thousands of local officials on May 12.