Duterte confident China won’t spy on Philippine thru NGCP

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos need not worry about the possibility of China manipulating the country’s power grid through the direct involvement of its nationals in the technical operations of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), President Duterte said on Thursday.

Duterte’s assurance came a day after Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang issued a similar statement, calling the allegations “completely groundless.”

In an interview at Malacañang, Duterte said he is confident the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is capable of protecting the country’s sovereignty from intrusion and ensuring the security of confidential information related to the Philippines’ internal affairs.

In the event of hostilities with the Chinese, he said he would just resort to bombing transmission lines before the enemy could tap into them.

“There are security issues that can be handled by the military. It cannot be a problem. Ako, ‘yung tower? Pasabugin ko lang ‘yun. Putulin ko ‘yung kable, tapos na (The tower? I’ll just blow it up, cut off the cable, that’s it),” he said.

“Filipinos still lack trust, but I trust them (Chinese). I take their word for it,” Duterte said.

If the military thinks electronic transmission of intelligence information is risky or has been compromised, then it should consider simply jotting down its message on a piece of paper and throwing it in the air, he said in jest.

“If it is really an important matter then I tell the military do not send it through the electronic world. Just write out it in a pad of paper and allow somebody to... ‘Di ilipad mo (let it fly),” He said. State Grid Corp. of China owns 40 percent of the NGCP.

Despite Duterte’s assurance, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi is renewing his proposal to conduct an audit on the transmission lines of NGCP.

“I have already directed TransCo (National Transmission Corp.) to write NGCP regarding this matter. After all, they already stated they are now willing to open their systems to the government,” Cusi said.

The Department of Energy has also been pushing for the withdrawal of systems operations functions from NGCP, saying a private company or private individual should not be given control over the transmission grid network, considered as the most critical infrastructure system of the state because of its capability to transmit power and digital data.

“Systems operations comprise just about six percent of the whole transmission business. It is not critical to the business of NGCP. It should not have been included in the concession contract in the first place. However, it is critical for the existence of the state. It is critical too for making sure it aligns with the operations of WESM (wholesale electricity spot market),” Cusi said.

Cusi said security issues involving China had been discussed before. “I wouldn’t say it’s unfounded. It’s a concern that has been raised before. Potentially, I repeat potentially, they can do it (remotely shut down) considering its digital nature,” he said.