‘Philippines security compromised with China access to telco infrastructure’

MANILA, Philippines — Allowing China to have access to the Philippines’ communications infrastructure – through a state-owned firm – will undermine national security, House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said yesterday.

“Giving China access to our communications infrastructure is a serious threat to national security. I invoke national security,” Suarez said, noting that the Philippines is embroiled in a maritime row with China.

China Telecommunications Corp. is part of the consortium that won the bid last Nov. 7 for the third major telecommunications slot in the Philippines. Leading the consortium is Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp.

Udenna subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp. and the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co. are part of the group called Mislatel.

“There is Korean and even Japanese technology, why don’t we use it?”  

Suarez pointed out that China already owns 40 percent of National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

“They already have electricity; will telecommunications be theirs too? They might take water as well. That’s my foremost concern,” he said in Filipino at a press briefing.

He recalled being told that China could easily shut down power if it wishes to. “They told me that it’s doable in our energy system. To me, that’s very alarming,” he said.

The Quezon congressman also said the government should not just sweep under the rug Beijing’s defiance of a ruling by an international arbitral court invalidating China’s massive claim in the South China Sea and affirming the Philippines’ own entitlements.

“They can always eavesdrop; they can. Remember that all businesses in China are government-owned,” Suarez pointed out, adding he would discuss the matter with newly appointed Information and Communications Technology Secretary Gregorio Honasan.