By: Francis Allan L. Angelo
Opposition to the Dito Telecommunity/China Telecom (Dito/ChinaTel) memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Armed Forces of the Philippines mounts.
Former Kabataan partylist congressman Terry Ridon and Magdalo partylist Rep. Manny Cabochan have added their voices to the growing number of oppositors to the deal.
“Only persons born yesterday would fail to see the grave security implications of allowing a telco with links to a territorial adversary to install equipment and facilities within our military camps,” argued Ridon, who is now Infrawatch PH convenor.
On Sept 11, 2019, the AFP signed an agreement with the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company (Mislatel), which has been rebranded as “Dito Telecommunity (Dito),” allowing the company to “build facilities in military camps and installations,” on communication towers within AFP properties.
Dito “is a consortium of Filipino businessman Dennis Uy’s holdings firm Udenna Corporation with a 35% stake, his listed company Chelsea Logistics with 25%, and the Chinese government-owned and -controlled China Telecom (ChinaTel) with 40%.”
The corporate setup has been a source of worry for security experts as the Chinese government, through ChinaTel, has a 40% equity in Dito.
In fact, ChinaTel is not just a shareholder since it will build Dito’s nationwide telecommunication infrastructure, which Uy’s companies lack in terms of expertise or experience, a Rappler.com report said.
ChinaTel is also mandated to spy for the Chinese government. Chapter 1, Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law stipulates that, “Any organization or citizen shall support, assist, and cooperate with the state intelligence work in accordance with the law…”
Ridon is a former member of the House Committee on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and an expert in cybersecurity, having studied at the Harvard Kennedy School.
He observed that “no less than Chinese President Xi Jinping said that ‘without cybersecurity, there is no national security’.”
Ridon explained that what Xi Jinping meant was that cyber and telco activities of Chinese state companies are expected to serve the security interests of China.
This puts ChinaTel – a partner of third Philippine telco player Dito – in a tenuous position where it will not be “a mere technical partner providing Dito with technology and infrastructure… but putting Dito within the political framework of ChinaTel to allow China to become a leading cyber power in the region.”
This is precisely the reason why Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, Director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) confirmed that the decision to spy does not lie with Chinese telcos… “but with Xi Jinping, in a way that they are starting to centralize greater the management of those businesses…”
Ashley’s sentiment somehow reflects the intention of US officials to block the 8,000-mile Los Angeles-Hong Kong (LAX-HKG) undersea cable project because it involves Chinese telcos.
Additional sentiments at home reinforced Ridon’s observations about the security risks posed by Chinese telcos.
Former Philippine naval officer and Magdalo partylist Rep. Manny Cabochan said “the ambitious digital infrastructure initiative of the country’s third telco Dito Telecommunity, Inc., may take longer than expected due to issues of ‘national security’ both domestically and from the US.”
“I think it’s a rough start for them considering that they have not established reliable communications platform, relay stations and facilities… noting that Dito has yet to lay its undersea cable from the US,” Rep. Manny Cabochan was quoted as saying by PhilStar.com.
“As I see it, the undersea cable poses security concerns for the US, very much like Dito co-locating its facilities near AFP installations and camps,” he added.
Already, Senators opposed to the AFP MOA with Dito/ChinaTel, have been demanding that they be given a copy of the MOA.
Apparently, Dito/ChinaTel has exposed its China hand too early in the game that if violations of security and rights (similar to the West Philippine Sea issue) happen, this could result in a termination of its third telco franchise.
This is a serious matter considering that not only the Philippines but also the United States would be involved in the investigation of cybersecurity and other cases.
