MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte dismissed concerns on China’s control over the Philippines’ power grid or threat to the country’s national security, saying this allegation is completely groundless.
“Sabihin ko sa China, ‘Look China, we’re friends. We’re doing business. You want money, we want money. It produces money for both of us. Now, do you intend to cut it? And for what reason?” President Duterte said a television interview.
Earlier, lawmakers aired their fears over China’s State Grid Corporation’s 40 percent stake in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, and to the potential threat this brought to the national power grid, that a legislative probe into the national security implications of the partnership had been floated.
Duterte, however, was skeptical of this, saying the likelihood that China would shut down the country’s power supply was “about a million miles away.”
“Kasi ang China tumulong lang, nagmagandang loob. Gusto rin niya ‘yung may kakampi sila kasi puro kakampi ng Amerikano eh. So they’re trying to help everybody na makinig sa kanila,” said the President.
The Philippine and China have been at odds for years over contested territories in the South China Sea, with the Philippines winning an internationally-backed arbitration case against China before The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration in July 2016./PN
