Senator Risa Hontiveros prodded the National Security Council anew to conduct a security audit of DITO Telecommunity, the third major telecom player in the country.
Hontiveros cited the need to beef up the country’s maritime and internet security amid the increasing incursions of Chinese ships in the West Philippine Sea.
The lady senator said she would not give up on her calls for an investigation on DITO’s plan to set up cell sites inside the camps of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Hontiveros said she filed Senate Resolution 137 in 2019 to scrutinize the agreement between DITO and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
She also cited the issue on the illegal construction of DITO cell sites in several barangays, adding that there were complaints from Malabon City and Bacolod City.
“Dapat tutukan ‘yan ng DILG [Department of Interior and Local Government at Department of Information and Communication Technology,” she said.
She said that despite years of discussing the issue involving DITO, there were still no clear resolutions.
“Paano naman tayo makakampante sa DITO, lalo na’t ang China-owned ChinaTel [China Telecom] ay siyang nagmamay-ari rin ng ating third telco,” said Hontiveros.
DITO is a joint venture of Udenna Corp., Chelsea Logistics Corp. and China Telecommunications Corp.
Hontiveros said she was not surprised that the New York Stock Exchange delisted ChinaTel as an offshoot of former US President Donald Trump’s ban on American investments on Chinese firms providing aid to the Chinese military, intelligence and security agencies.
The senator said such development should also serve as a warning to Philippine government agencies.