Officials of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) will need to do a lot of explaining on their failure to submit to a mandatory audit when they face the Senate Energy Committee again on Tuesday, March 10.
Committee Chairman Win Gatchalian initially gave the NGCP until February
10 to comply with the order to subject its operations to a mandatory audit following national security concerns. The deadline has been extended until February 17 prior to NGCP’s request for an extension.
During the initial hearing early February, Senators were alarmed when NGCP officials themselves admitted to numerous cyber attacks but did not report such incidents to proper authorities.
“With just a single attack, we should already be panicking. Hindi na dapat yan umabot ng maraming attacks,” Gatchalian said.
“Nagulat ako. We were merely contemplating on how to deal about future cyber attacks, yun pala nangyayari na pala sa atin. Kaya kung hindi sila papayag na pumasok ang DOE, itutuloy namin ang aming recommendation na i-revoke ang franchise nila.” he emphasized.
It was during the last hearing when officials of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) revealed that NGCP officials have refused to be audited several times.
There are mounting fears that NGCP is being controlled and operated by China through the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) which has 40% stake in the company.
The committee also found out that a certain Wen Bo had signed contracts as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of the NGCP. Gatchalian stressed that having a non-Filipino in the top management posts of the company is a clear violation of the Constitution citing Section 11, Article 12 of the
1987 Constitution which states that “all executive and managing officers of any corporation or association must be citizens of the Philippines.”
The next hearing will also scrutinize further NGCP’s concession agreements, its franchise, and its performance. (senate.gov.ph)