De lima says, ”China as 3rd telco player is a security threat,good for the present, but not for the future!

Senator Leila de Lima one of President Rodrigo Duterte’s fiercest critics, said on Tuesday warned against the entry of a Chinese firm as the third player in the local telecommunications industry, saying there is no assurance that the Philippines’ national security will not be compromised in the future.

De lima added that the administration’s decision to limit the participation of a third player to Chinese companies was an “economically irrational decision.”

“This situation serves the Duterte administration well especially now that it has made the Philippines a pariah state in the international community because of its human rights record,” De Lima said in a statement.

“This might be good for the present administration, but not necessarily for the future of the nation,” said De Lima, citing the experience of other Asian nations as to how China “ultimately demands for its pound of flesh once it decides to cash in.”

“This is not to mention the security threat a Chinese telco poses to the country’s information and communication infrastructure. What will assure us that in the future, our national security and whole intelligence and defense systems won’t be compromised, if not under the complete control of a foreign government with national interests diametrically opposed to our own?” the senator said.

China and the Philippines currently have overlapping territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea.

Earlier this week President Rodrigo Duterte has directed the Department of Information and Communication (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to ensure that China Telecom is a 3rf party telecom player in the country in the first three months of the year 2018.