Senator Raffy Tulfo personally visited President Bongbong Marcos in Malacañang to discuss the country’s energy security due to the poor performance of and threats brought about by National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Tulfo, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Energy, also met with Marcos to get the cooperation of different government agencies to swiftly address the issue with NGCP.
NGCP, which is the country’s energy grid systems operator, is 40% owned by the State Grid Corporation of China while 60% of its capital stakes is Filipino-owned.
“Chinese ownership of NGCP poses a serious national security threat considering the current conflict between China and the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea.”
The legislator said that Chinese ownership of NGCP poses a serious national security threat considering the current conflict between China and the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
In the said meeting with the President, the lawmaker 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 the senator, there is an intel report divulging that China has the capability to remotely access the country’s national grid and sabotage it.
In fact, he 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 who knows how to operate this.
Tulfo likewise relayed to President Marcos Jr. 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.
He maintained that these concerns and lapses are enough reason for the government to cancel the franchise of NGCP.
Additionally, Tulfo stressed that a 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 own 40% of NGCP, he said that under the shareholder’s agreement, they have the power to veto or junk the board resolution of majority shareholders.
“Magagawa ng Chinese shareholders ang lahat ng kanilang gusto pagdating sa pamamalakad ng NGCP. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit ngayon ay nagkakagewang-gewang ang ating energy situation.”
“Sa madaling salita, magagawa ng Chinese shareholders ang lahat ng kanilang gusto pagdating sa pamamalakad ng NGCP. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit ngayon ay nagkakagewang-gewang ang ating energy situation,” Tulfo said.
Marcos, for his part, agreed to Tulfo’s 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, he filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 609 seeking to investigate the corporation.
In SR No. 609, Tulfo cited reports indicating that the NGCP fails 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.
