Nominated Philippine official’s close links with China questioned
- Rommel Banlaoi, a renowned analyst on the South China Sea row and on Islamist terrorism, was picked as a nominee to help advise the president on security matters
- But he withdrew his name after a group accused him of being ‘a seller of information’ and obtaining classified information on the maritime dispute
Banlaoi, a well-known analyst on the maritime dispute and on Islamist terrorism, was nominated to the post by political scientist Clarita Carlos, who is Marcos Jnr’s national security adviser.
Banlaoi on Sunday rejected the claims, saying any so-called classified information he received was willingly shared by his “friends in the military”, and that he had never sold information to anyone.
“I am known as a scholar who can hunt for ‘fugitive data’ through investigative ground research,” he told This Week in Asia.
The allegations emerged last month when alleged “National Security Council (NSC) employees” wrote to Marcos Jnr raising their concerns about Banlaoi’s nomination.
The letter, which was unsigned, claimed Banlaoi was a “security risk” who was “very popular in the intelligence community as a ‘seller’ of intelligence information” and had once been investigated by the NSC on suspicion of receiving Chinese state funding.