Voting 17-2-1, the Senate approved on third and final reading Wednesday, March 24, the bill renewing for another 25 years the franchise granted to Dito Telecommunity Corporation.
House Bill No. 7332 was first on the agenda of the Senate in resuming its plenary session after a six-day lockdown due to COVID-19 cases among its employees.
Of the Senate's members, Senators Risa Hontiveros voted against the passage of the bill.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, abstained from voting. In 2019, he voted against the adoption of a resolution allowing the transfer of the ownership of the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company (Mislatel) to the consortium of Davao businessman Dennis Uy's Udenna Corporation and its subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Corp., and state-owned China Telecommunications Corp.
The telecommunication company was later named Dito Telecommunity.
It's franchise, granted in 1998, expires in 2023.
In explaining her vote, Hontiveros clarified that she is not against the entry of competitors in country's telecommunications sector, but is mainly considering the national security concerns over Dito's operations.
China Telecom owns 40 percent of the telecommunication company.
"In this bill, we were deciding between two competing, yet vital, interests. The welfare of our consumers, who have had to endure less-than-ideal service so far on one hand, and the national security on the other," she said.
"We should have a fourth, a fifth and a sixth major player. As many as market demand will support. However, this should not come at the expense of vital national security interests, and against a rival claimant in the West Philippine Sea that has proven time and time again that it will use any leverage it has to its advantage," she raised.
She mentioned the incursion of over 200 Chinese vessels at the Julian Felipe Reef, which China was denying.
Hontiveros said Dito "seems merely the Filipino mask over China Telecom and true face of what we call the 'Third Telco'."
Echoing Hontiveros, Pangilinan said "we should not close our eyes to the national security issues as well as the threats to our sovereignty surrounding this particular telco."
" Chinese Government, through the Chinese National Intelligence Law of 2017 and the Chinese Counter-Espionage Law of 2014, has the power to compel China Telecom to monitor and investigate foreign individuals and institutions and conduct espionage activities on them," Pangilinan pointed out.
"This is especially concerning because Dito and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have agreed to put up cell sites in our military bases," he added.
Earlier, Senator Grace Poe assured her colleagues that the House bill contained safeguards that would protect the Philippines' sovereignty and interests.
"Walang perpektong batas pero hangga't sa abot ng ating makakaya dapat gawin natin ang nararapat para hindi tayo maisahan (No law is perfect but as much as we can, we have to do what is necessary to prevent others from taking advantage)," the chairperson of the Senate committee on public services and sponsor of House Bill No. 7332, said after the bill's approval on second reading last week.