Review deal placing telco towers in bases — lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — A militant lawmaker in the House of Representatives yesterday called for review of the deal forged by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with the consortium tapped to be the country’s third telecommunications player that includes a Chinese company.

Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas specifically questioned the reported provision in the agreement allowing Dito Telecommunity Corp., formerly Mislatel which is composed of China Telecom and Udenna Corp. led by businessman Dennis Uy, to put its system, towers and facilities inside military bases in the country.

“We are concerned with this contract because allowing a Chinese firm to build towers in our military facilities will jeopardize our national security,” Brosas told The STAR.

“That’s really scary. The Constitution prohibits third party or foreign firms to build facilities here because that would violate our sovereignty and national security,” she added.

For these reasons, Brosas called on the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to review the contract.

Dito Telecommunity received its license to operate last July and is expected to begin commercial operations by 2020.

Under the contract, Udenna is in charge of providing local knowledge and footprint in the business, while China Telecom will build and deploy the actual telecoms infrastructure. 

The Chinese firm will also have a hand in all technical requirements of the third telco.

Critics have expressed fear that the upcoming telco will be used by China to tap into all communications of its subscribers in the Philippines.