The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has assuaged worries that China's grid operator may be able to shut down the power infrastructure of the country remotely following leaked reports to lawmakers.
"There is nothing to be worried about the State Grid Corporation of China's interest in NGCP as its contribution is restricted to being a technical advisor," said Anthony Almeda, president, and chief executive of NGCP.
SGCC has a 40 percent stake in NGCP, while the 60 percent share is still owned by the Philippine companies Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. and Calaca High Power Corp. with 30 percent each.
As such, SGCC has only three candidates who are serving the company as members of the NGCP board of directors and are proportionate to their equity shares.
Almeda disclosed that "SGCC serves only as of the consortium's technical advisor, but NGCP management and control, including the operation of its systems is exercised exclusively by the Philippines."
Based on a CNN report, China controls the Philippine power grid, raising concerns about national security to which lawmakers called for an immediate test.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, in particular, filed a resolution that calls for a committee to scrutinize NGCP's compliance with its mandate to safeguard the grid and ensure continuous electricity supply.
He also called on the Joint Congressional Energy Commission (JCEC )- the primary watchdog in the power sector in the country - to examine the Philippines' transmission line operations to verify whether Filipinos are in charge of their day-to-day management.
However, Almeda noted that the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), the system controlling the grid, is operated only by NGCP's authorized local technical experts.
"SCADA is disconnected from the Virtual Private Network (VPN) by default; therefore, remote users are unable to connect to SCADA," Almeda said, pointing out that "VPN access can only be granted to the Filipino chief executive officer during an emergency situation and only after a the secure and confidential approval process has been completed."
Almeda said NGCP's operation data center is equipped with biometric access controls that enable only licensed NGCP personnel to enter separately from SCADA workstations and servers protected by firewalls and encryption device layers to prevent unauthorized access.
In the meantime, Almeda has encouraged legislators and an independent party to tour NGCP facilities and see how they handle and run the energy facilities.
"We are pleased to welcome our senators and congressmen as well as an impartial third party to tour our facilities to alleviate any security concerns posed in recent days," said Almeda.
Some of the legislators who toured the network running facilities of NGCP included Gatchalian on Aug. 18, 2016, Congresswoman Baby Arenas on March 21, 2017, and Congressman Danilo Suarez.
