Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said Friday “heads will roll” if somebody is found guilty in the “spying” incident involving a soldier who was allegedly caught conducting “surveillance training” exercises on the home of National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera.

Teodoro said whatever the reason of the military, he sees no acceptable reason to “spy” on Lumbera’s residence.

“Iyun na lang yung theorya ng mga tao, but the incident whatever it is, is not acceptable.”

As this developed, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said Malacañang is never involved in the spying on Lumbera, who had earlier claimed it had something to do with his participation in the protest against the awarding of National Artists titles to a few recipients.

Teodoro said he has ordered Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado to look into the matter.

“I’m also questioning that and I’m ordering an investigation,” he told Senate reporters in an interview after a hearing at the Senate.

“Heads will roll if somebody is found really guilty. I really don’t believe that people should be the subject of training exercises,” he further said.

“It’s not acceptable, definitely not. First time ko na nakita na nangyari iyan, its not acceptable,” added Teodoro.

Though a spokesman of the Navy, Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo voiced openness to a possible reassessment on the Navy’s intelligence program, Teodoro said the “surveillance” on the Lumbera residence was improper.

Arevalo said the activity was part of a soldier’s training on “practical exercises on surveillance but did not give details why Lumbera’s home was the chosen subject for observation.

“We are happy that the good Prof. Lumbera has accepted our apology. We have already said that he was not subject of surveillance.”

Arevalo earlier explained that the Navy personnel caught taking pictures of Lumbera’s home, Cpl. Hanibal Masura Mondido Guerrero, is taking the Naval Enlisted Personnel Intelligence Course (NEPIC) and was on an “information/verification task per a given academic situation.”

Arevalo also explained earlier that Lumbera’s address was chosen randomly and that no particular name was given for their student personnel to monitor.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which is being urged to investigate the incident, has rebuked the Philippine Navy for conducting espionage on Lumbera.

CHR Chairman Leila M. de Lima said the confirmed intelligence operations on the house of Lumbera, a former political prisoner and leader of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), should send chills down the spines of artists and cultural workers all over the Philippines.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) urged the CHR to act on the incident, especially in light of Lumbera being the current national chairman of the ACT Teachers party-list group.

Lumbera was also among the vocal protesters who questioned Malacañang’s intervention in the National Artist awards.

But Malacañang said: “We have to stand by what the military is saying. Sila lang ang nakakaalam and we don’t know. We just take it as it is. If they say it is part of their training of their students, we believe that,” Fajardo said.

Meanwhile, Navy Flag Officer-in-Command (FOIC) Vice Admiral Ferdinand Golez ordered an investigation into the botched “surveillance assignment” by one of its personnel on Lumbera’s home.

Golez also ordered a re-evaluation of the Navy’s intelligence training program after the Lumbera “spying” incident alarmed some sectors, especially those identified with anti-government organizations. (With reports from Charissa M. Luci, Marvyn N. Benaning, and Elena L. Aben)