Bayan Muna Chairman Neri Colmenares has urged the Duterte administration to probe the report that there were a hundred attempts to hack the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
Colmenares cited the need for the NGCP to have a strong cybersecurity infrastructure as just one attack could result in a massive power blackout in the country.
NGCP Chief Executive Officer Anthony Almeda had admitted during the recent Senate Energy Committee hearing that the power grid had been attacked a hundred times.
Almeda said there were attempts to hack the NGCP for several weeks.
“On the cyber attack, for the past few weeks that we’re here, we’ve been attacked a hundred times. As we speak, it’s from the outside,” said Almeda.
Earlier, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate challenged the Duterte administration to have the NCGP audited following the revelation at the Senate inquiry that China controls its operations and that there are issues surrounding its transmission rates.
Zarate said that although NGCP was a private company, its operation was of public interest and therefore could be scrutinized by the government, primarily led by the Commission on Audit and Congress.
“NGCP has not been reviewed for more than 10 years now and it is high time that NGCP undergoes an independent audit so that a rate reset may be implemented if its transmission rates are found to be unjustly high,” said Zarate.
The NGCP is now the center of talks after it was revealed that 40 percent of the company is owned by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), which should only be the technical partner of the Filipino consortium Monte Oro Grid Resources Owned by Henry Sy Jr. and the Calaca High Power Corp of Robert Coyuito, Jr.
It was also learned that the Chinese engineers of SGCC operate and troubleshoot the transmission facilities which can be shut down from the monitoring system in Nanjing, China.
Zarate stressed that NGCP’s operations should be transparent and that Congress should not ignore the irregularities exposed which, he added, are clear threats to the country’s security.
Some senators have also threatened to push for the revocation of the 50-year franchise of NGCP after it was revealed that Chinese executives are controlling the NGCP which is a clear violation of the law mandating that the country’s public utilities should be controlled by Filipinos.
They said that proof of this are the gathered documents for the Luzon Substation Expansion Project 3 signed by one Wen Bo, said to be the second-highest official of NGCP while the form’s Board of Directors is headed by one Zhu Guangchao.