An internal report for lawmakers has revealed that the Chinese government has the power to shut off the Philippines’ power grid “with a single switch”.
The report, which was prepared by a government body and leaked by an unidentified source to CNN, claimed that national security is “completely compromised due to the control and proprietary access given by the local consortium partner to the Chinese government”.
Concerns were raised by lawmakers on Thursday during the energy department’s 2020 budget hearing in the senate.
China’s largest utility company, the State Grid Corporation, has owned a 40 per cent stake in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) since 2009.
On Tuesday, Senator Risa Hontiveros filed a resolution warning of Chinese-engineered interferences to power and Internet supply