NGCP assistant vice president and spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum in Malate, Manila. INQUIRER.net / Faith Argosino
MANILA, Philippines — The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Wednesday clarified the issue on its ownership setup, saying that it’s 60-percent Filipino-owned.
Last May 14, Senators JV Ejercito and Sherwin Gatchalian pushed for the review of NGCP’s congressional franchise, urging the government to regain full control of the country’s energy transmission system.
Their statement came after power outages occurred in Luzon, as the Manila Electric Company reported on May 8.
Ejercito noted that the State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) owns 40 percent of NGCP, while Henry Sy Jr. and Robert Coyiuto Jr., two business tycoons from the Philippines, control 60 percent of the company.
Alabanza, on the other hand, said that NGCP’s employees are all Filipinos and had only four technical partners.
“We’re a Filipino corporation by any standard, and this is actually part of the legal safeguards that certain industries like ours, public utility, will always be in the control of Filipinos. Because 60 percent outvotes the 40 percent any day in any decision,” she told reporters during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
She also emphasized that the corporation is run by Filipino engineers, executives, and employees like her, adding that even their dispatchers are all Filipinos.
“We have invited so many members of the media. We have invited so many past and present officials to NGCP just to show them that we’re a Filipino corporation. I even joked that many of us have chinky eyes, but we’re all Filipinos,” Alabanza said, speaking partly
“So I don’t know how else to demonstrate that. You can come and see it. It’s all on the record – the shareholdings. At the end of the day, it’s all just work,” she added.