Fact check: Chinese government can’t cut off power in the Philippines with a button
MANILA, Philippines — The Chinese government cannot cut off power in the Philippines through the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) “by just pressing a button,” and the president did not order a government takeover of the NGCP to prevent this from happening, contrary to a vlogger’s claim.
CLAIM: China’s 40% stake in the NGCP allows it to remotely shut down power lines in the Philippines in a single move—a security threat that has prompted President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to take back control of the private corporation.
RATING: This is false.
FACTS:
What the video says
In a Facebook video posted by vlogger “Rover adventure vlog” on May 17, he alleged that China’s partial ownership of the NGCP warrants a government takeover of the corporation to prevent the Chinese government from cutting off the country’s power lines.
The vlogger said in Filipino that the NGCP should be “returned to the (Philippine) government” because of the threat posed by the Chinese government’s control over the country’s “transmission lines” and “distribution (of electricity).”
“Pag nagkanda leche-leche sa kanila, total darkness ang mangyayari sa ating inang bayan (If things go wrong, total darkness will happen to our country),” he said.
The vlogger also alleged: “What if magkaroon ng tension ang America at China? Isang pindutan lang nila, brownout ang buong PIlipinas. Apektado ang buong ekonomiya natin (What if tensions brew between America and China? With just one press, there will be a brownout in the whole Philippines. Our entire economy will be affected).”
Philstar.com screengrab, June 12, 9:13 a.m.
The video also features a thumbnail with the text: “OMG!! PBBM babawiin na daw ang NGCP para maisaayos ang Kuryente (OMG!!! PBBM will take back NGCP to fix the Electricity)"
The 16-minute video also included a clip from a May 16 news report aired on “Frontline Tonight," TV 5's late-night news show about House lawmakers’ proposals to amend the NGCP franchise to allow for only Filipinos to own it.
The clip included a soundbite from Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin saying: “The concession agreement of the franchise is very much in favor of the franchisee, so I think it is within the powers of Congress to renew even before the expiration.”
What the video left out
While it is true that the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) holds a 40% stake in the NGCP, the remaining 60% is owned and controlled by two Filipino companies – the Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. led by Henry Sy, Jr. and Calaca High Power Corporation led by Robert Coyiuto, Jr.
In a statement sent to the media on May 24, the NGCP explained that it also implements a range of measures to prevent unauthorized remote access to the grid, as reported by the Philippine Star and Inquirer.net.
The NGCP maintains a separate network called the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system for all operations and transmission-related work, which is a stand-alone system that is connected only to a private network. This means it cannot be accessible through the internet or to NGCP’s other network, the company said.
“This, along with other security protocols, makes unsupervised direct remote access impossible. It also prevents cybersecurity incidents, such as viruses, malwares or cyber threats, from occurring in the SCADA system,” the NGCP said.
In a 2019 statement to CNN Philippines, the NGCP denied similar claims alleging that the SGCC poses a security threat to the power grid of the country, explaining that its role is limited to “that of an investor, with board seats corresponding to its stake in the company.”
At the time, a leaked report provided by an unidentified source to CNN alleged that SGCC has "full control" of the Philippines' power grid, which will allow it to have "full capability to disrupt national power systems." This was refuted by the NGCP, who said that the SGCC is a “technical partner.”
“The day-to-day operations of NGCP are 100% handled by Filipinos, and the company’s business direction is, like any other corporation, steered by its Board of Directors,” the NGCP said in the 2019 statement.
Addressing concerns raised by lawmakers, NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart on Dec. 3, 2019 that there is "no proverbial Wile E. Coyote Acme red button that you can press to shut down the grid," as reported by Philstar.com and ABS-CBN News.
“We have over 200 substations all over the country and if you want to 'shut down the grid' you have to manually close each breaker in each substation so that is not possible," Alabanza said.
RELATED: NGCP: China can't remotely shut off Philippine power grid
Maps of transmission networks in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in NGCP's Transmission Development Plan 2022-2040 also show that there are several substations spread out in the country.
Marcos also did not announce that the government would take back full ownership of NGCP, which holds a 50-year franchise set to expire in 2034.
According to a statement by the Presidential Communications Office on May 16, Marcos merely agreed with Sen. Raffy Tulfo to study or to conduct hearings in order to know "the real situation" of the NGCP "and if there is a need for the government to (sic) full control of the entity."
Essential context
The NGCP, a consortium of the three corporations, was created as a result of major reforms in the energy industry, including the privatization of the government-owned National Power Corporation (NPC) through the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).
As part of the restructuring, the transmission component of the NGCP was spun off to the government-owned National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) and eventually privatized through concession.
In 2007, the three corporations won the 25-year concession through bidding to operate the country's power transmission network, with NGCP officially starting operations in 2009.
China’s partial ownership of NGCP is not the only point of controversy that has recently hounded the NGCP. Lawmakers have been grillings officials of NGCP over problems besetting the Visayas grid that resulted in massive power blackouts across Western Visayas, as well as project delays and its executives’ pay.
Why we fact-checked this
As of posting, the Facebook video has gathered more than 1,200 reactions, 190 comments and 120 shares.
The video was also shared in Facebook groups "BBM SUPPORTERS CAVITE" and "BBM ?? UNITED BBM LOYALIST INTERNATIONAL," which have more than 16,000 members and 2,300 members respectively.
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