"There must be a balance between technological and capital interest and national security and public welfare."
"There must be a balance between technological and capital interest and national security and public welfare."
Sovereignty and national security are inherently a prime concern for all states, especially for developing states. The present Constitution embodies this principle by recognizing the paramount importance of protection of life, liberty, and property of the people and mandating an independent foreign policy. This is also manifest in other laws such as the Foreign Investment Act of 1991 (FIA). The FIA not just promotes foreign investment in domestic and export enterprises, but also establishes a negative list which limits foreign ownership in certain industries.
I have repeatedly highlighted the importance of maintaining national control over our public utilities, particularly those which involve interconnection of facilities and exchange of information over networks. The networks of our electricity and telecommunications hold the most risk when it comes to national security. Any breach or interference of these networks by foreign entities will lay bare important information which may be crucial in the maintenance of peace and order, normal operations of the government, and undisturbed day-to-day activities of Filipinos.
The recent discovery of “attacks” over the system of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines during the Senate Committee on Energy hearing held on Monday is exactly the reason for the precaution I continuously seek from the concerned agencies. Worse, this information was withheld from the government for weeks. It may be argued that threats to these industries and utilities are normal. However, these remain risks we must abate, and which the government must know. Such attempts show the vulnerability of our public utilities and indicate the need to ensure that security measures are updated and maintained. Furthermore, it was also reported that the Chief Technical Officer of the NGCP was a Chinese national. This is a direct contravention of its franchise and, more importantly, the Constitution.
The inconvenience may be actually eliminated by making ownership and operations of our public utilities exclusive to Filipinos. At present, operation of public utilities, except power generation and the supply of electricity to the contestable market and similar businesses or services not covered by the definition of public utilities, are allowed up to 40 percent foreign equity. It is not impossible that schemes may be done to circumvent this law. While foreign investment is admittedly valuable to advance our technological capability, we cannot allow our national security be compromised. This could be the right time that we revisit the FIA, considering the present circumstances.
Congresswoman Aleta Suarez has filed House Bill No. 4672 which limits the ownership and operation of the NGCP exclusively to Filipinos. I call on members of the Legislature to look into this bill and support its purpose. It can be recalled that 40 percent of the NGCP is owned by the State Grid Corporation of China, 30 percent by One Taipan Holdings, and the other 30 percent by Calaca High Power Corporation.
This perhaps calls for a modern “Filipino First” policy. There must be a balance between technological and capital interest and national security and public welfare. Most important of them all is ensuring the welfare of our people. This has happened before. Despite the alleged countermeasures in place, I reiterate that limiting the ownership of these public utilities is the response we very much await. We have let many opportunities pass, it is high time that we took this matter seriously and act judiciously.