Lorenzana: DND, DOE to probe China’s stake in NGCP

MANILA, Philippines — Does China really have the capacity to shut down the Philippines’ power grid? Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said they will soon find out.

The top defense official said they are forming a team from the defense and energy department to address the public concerns and settle the issue once and for all.

“We are putting up a team in the (Department of National) Defense and Department of Energy to really find out to prove or disprove the allegations of others that China can shut down our grid anytime they want,” he said in a forum hosted by the Manila Overseas Press Club in Makati on Wednesday.

“Although the NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) has strongly denied the allegations, it’s good to prove to us, to our people there who are experts, that they can’t do it. So we will inspect the NGCP in the next coming days,” he added.

Manila and Beiijng have long been at odds over the South China Sea, which the latter claims entirely. President Rodrigo Duterte has set aside the Philippines’ historic win in the international court invalidating China’s massive claims in exchange for loans and investments.

Lawmakers and experts have recently raised concerns that China can control the nation’s power grid remotely. The privately-run NGCP, the country’s lone power transmission line, is 40 percent owned by State Grid Corp. of China since 2009.

Energy Sec. Alfonso Cusi also believes that the allegations are not impossible. “I wouldn’t say it’s unfounded. It’s a concern that has been raised before. Potentially, I repeat potentially, they can do it (remotely shut down) considering its digital nature,” he told reporters last week.

These concerns have been brushed off by NGCP, saying the Chinese firm is limited to being a technical adviser and that the power grid cannot be accessed by remote users.

“There is no proverbial Wile E. Coyote Acme red button that you can press to shut down the grid. You have to call at the very least, 200 substation managers and have them shut off several breakers in each of these substations one by one,” NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza told ABS-CBN News Channel in an interview on Tuesday.

The suspicions were likewise downplayed by the Chinese government in late November.

“The allegation of China’s control over the Philippines’ power grid or threat to the country’s national security is completely groundless,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

“We hope certain individuals in the Philippines will look at cooperation with China in an open, objective and impartial manner. There is no need to worry about the sky falling or imagine trouble where there is none,” he added.

Edited by KGA