The alleged spy, who was apprehended by security men of the gated community where Lumbera lives, was identified as a certain Marine Cpl. Hannival Mondido Guerrero.

Lt. Col. Edgardo Arevalo confirmed that Guerrero was indeed a member of the armed forces and was conducting "information verification" as part of his "surveillance training" in the Naval Intelligence Training Institute. (The "Philippine Daily Inquirer" later quoted Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as saying that Guerrero was not in the Navy’s master list.)

Arevalo also. "We would like to apologize to Professor Lumbera for whatever inconvenience the incident caused him," Arevalo was quoted by the "Inquirer" in its 17 September 2009 issue.

But Lumbera GMANews.TV he would still file charges against the AFP.

"I accept their apology, but I don't necessarily believe the details they said," Lumbera said on 18 September. 

As a result of the Lumbera incident, another writer reported that he has been under military surveillance since 2006.

During a 22 September 2009 press conference, UP professor and fiction writer Pedro "Jun" Cruz Reyes shared incidents in which the military allegedly surveilled him. He said the latest incidents happened in early September this year.

In an affidavit by GMA-7’s primetime news program, Reyes said that "Noong Septyembre 13, 2009…gawing ala-8 ng gabi..inilabas niya ang dalawa nilang cellphone at ginamit ang isa niyang cellphone para ako ay pagkukuhanan ng litrato (Last 13 September 2009, around 8 p.m., the man pulled out two mobile phones. He used one to take my picture [without permission])."

As early as 2006, the online news magazine had that Reyes was in the Army’s order of battle in Bulacan, a province near Manila. In 2007, unidentified also men tried to enter his house, said Reyes.

At first, Reyes said he didn’t pay too much attention. "I was busy with my doctoral degree at UP Diliman. I also got preoccupied with writing my dissertation for the said doctoral degree. But now, as time goes by, their surveillance and harassment of me is assuming a more definite form."

Critical writers, journalists, and media organizations have been targets of surveillance by the AFP. In 2009, journalist Carlos Conde found that he had been included in a 2007 "order of battle" of the AFP 10th Infantry Division. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism had also been tagged as "enemies of the state" by the police.