The Joint Congressional Energy Commission (JCEC) is set to tackle the current energy crisis plaguing the country and the various proposals seeking to revoke the franchise of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), Sen. Rafael "Raffy" Tulfo said on Wednesday, May 17.
Tulfo made the announcement at the sidelines of the Senate Committee on Energy’s probe into the recent power outages in Luzon and Visayas, particularly the power supply crisis in the province of Occidental Mindoro and the Panay Island electric power situation, and the operations of the NGCP amid the power transmission disturbances and national security concerns.
“I will convene the JCEC as chairman of the Senate energy committee. We will be part of the investigation on, not only the NGCP, but on the whole problem (of the country on) electricity,” Tulfo said in an interview after the panel’s inquiry.
“But for now, the focus is on the NGCP. This would be the top priority,” Tulfo said, also affirming that the congressional inquiry has President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s approval.
During the Senate hearing, senators grilled executives of the NGCP once again over the 40 percent share of the State Grid Corporation of China, as this poses a national security threat. Aside from Tulfo, other senators, including Risa Hontiveros, Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito, Nancy Binay, Sherwin Gatchalian have been calling for a performance audit of the NGCP.
Tulfo reiterated the need to return NGCP’s ownership to the Philippine government, particularly to the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) and not with the China’s state grid.
But NGCP Corporate Secretary Atty. Ronald Dylan Concepcion insisted that the NGCP facilities are being manned by Filipinos.
But Tulfo and Sen. Risa Hontiveros rejected Concepcion’s statement saying it cannot be denied that as a state-owned enterprise, the State Grid Corp. of China is obliged to collect information, intelligence and provide this to their government.
And against this backdrop, senators pointed out the Philippines has a standing dispute with China over maritime areas in the West Philippine Sea.
Senators also questioned NGCP’s refusal to be inspected by the Transco.
“To say that that is not a national security threat, that is so wrong, Mr. Chair. That is very wrong,” Hontiveros said.
Tulfo also cited a report by the National Security Council (NSC) disclosed by then National Security Adviser (NSA) Hermogenes Esperon regarding the “vulnerability” in NGCP’s system, pointing out that the former secretary was only able to inspect the facilities of the NGCP but not of the State Grid Corporation of China.
Hontiveros also recalled Esperon himself told the Senate during one of the panel’s hearings, over his concerns that the Philippines has no cybersecurity strategy yet.
Concepcion also denied allegations that China can remotely control NGCP’s facilities.
But Tulfo rejected Concepcion’s claim saying that until China itself verifies this, and verify they do not have remote access to NGCP: “I won’t believe whatever you’ll tell us that this is not possible.”
“I will still believe that they have access remotely; the State Grid of China can, if they want, sabogate our own national grid, that for that, we may just wake up one day and find out we are no longer a Republic of the Philippines,” Tulfo pointed out.
But Concepcion also expressed readiness to heed the panel’s recommendation
to change the manuals and instructions for the NGCP equipment to English after senators questioned why these are written in Chinese and Tulfo asked them to “get rid of these Chinese characters” as they are “insulting.”
Senators also demanded that NGCP provide the panel documents related to the claims that 95 percent of the company’s revenues go to dividends and only five percent are alloted for investments.
Sen. Grace Poe, who serves as chair of the Senate public services panel, also said her panel is open to a review of the 50-year congressional franchise of the NGCP as it concerns a critical need of Filipinos, as the recurring power outages being experienced by millions of Filipino households “should not be the norm.”
“We must…exercise vigilance when it comes to our power lines, to ensure that electricity running from Luzon to Mindanao remains under the control of Filipinos amid security concerns raised by senators," Poe said in a separate statement.
“The committee will thoroughly scrutinize the performance of the NGCP and see if it has remained faithful to its signed franchise or if violations have been committed,” added Poe.