Senator Rafael "Raffy’’ Tulfo has recommended to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to divide the operations of the country's transmission grid, which is being operated by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
The NGCP, which is the country’s energy grid systems operator, is 40 percent owned by the State Grid Corporation of China while 60 of its capital stakes is Filipino-owned.
Tulfo, chairman of the Senate energy committee, said that Chinese ownership of NGCP poses serious national security threat considering the current conflict between China and the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
In his meeting with the President at Malacañang yesterday, Tulfo proposed to return the systems operation of the country’s transmission grid to the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo), a government entity, and leave its maintenance to NGCP.
According to Tulfo, there is an intelligence report divulging that China has the capability to remotely access the country’s national grid and sabotage it.
Tulfo shared that all the instructions posted in NGCP plants about operations of sensitive equipment, including manuals, are written in Chinese characters, adding that there is no Filipino technician knows how to operate this.
He, likewise, relayed to President Marcos the different violations of NGCP in its franchise contract, such as its failure to follow timely development and connectivity in the main grid of energy power in various provinces.
The senator maintained that these concerns and lapses are enough reason for the government to cancel the franchise of NGCP.
Additionally, Tulfo stressed that big part of the billions of pesos being earned by NGCP is going to the shareholders and not on system development.
While Chinese shareholders only owns 40 percent of NGCP, Tulfo said that under the shareholder’s agreement, they have the power to veto or junk the board resolution of majority shareholders.
Tulfo said President Marcos agreed to his suggestions as long as it is for the benefit of the Filipinos.
Meanwhile, due to said possible national security threat and lapses in transmission being operated by NGCP, Tulfo filed Senate Resolution (SR) 609 seeking to investigate the corporation.
In SR 609, Tulfo cited reports indicating that the NGCP failed to perform its mandate to contract ancillary providers in accordance with the requirements of the Department of Energy (DOE).
It can be recalled that the Luzon grid was recently placed under red and yellow alerts, with several areas reporting power outages.
The prolonged power interruptions in Panay and Negros over the past weeks had been discovered to be due to inadequacies in the transmission system being operated by the NGCP.