Hontiveros again raises spying concerns over Dito, telco says it already underwent security audit

 

A senator on Monday again expressed doubts over the security of Dito Telecommunity Corp., noting that this may be a Trojan horse as it is backed by China Telecommunications Corp.

In a statement, Senator Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros-Baraquel said she would not be surprised if China Tel acquired Dito shares to spy on the country given the country’s interests in Philippine territories.

“Maaaring Trojan Horse nga ang Dito ng ChinaTel kaya tuloy-tuloy ang ating pangagalampag sa Dito at pati na rin sa NSC (National Security Council) para masiguradong hindi nagiging bulnerable ang ating pambansang seguridad,” she said.

“Hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin nagagawa ang mungkahi nating matagal na na magsagawa ng security audit sa Dito,” she added.

(Dito may be a Trojan Horse that is why we are continuously pushing Dito and the NSC to ensure that the country’s security does not become vulnerable… Until now our proposed security audit on Dito has not been done.)

Dito Telecom, formerly Mislatel Consortium, consists of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corporation which owns 35%, Udenna’s subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Holdings Inc. which owns 25%, and Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation which owns 40%.

“Hindi kaila na ang Tsina ay may malaking interes na angkinin ang West Philippine Sea at kung isasaalang-alang ang mga aksyon ng kanilang mga barko lalo na nitong taon, lantaran nilang gagawin ang lahat — bumili man ng telecom o ng power system — para mapasakanila kung ano ang atin,” said Hontiveros.

(It is not new that China has major interests in claiming ownership of the West Philippine Sea, and if we take into consideration their actions in the past year, they will blatantly do anything — including buying telecoms or power systems — for them to claim what is ours.)

GMA News Online has reached out to Dito Telecom, but officials were not immediately available to comment on the matter.

Chief Technology Officer Rodolfo “GenBoy” Santiago in June said that the company already underwent a security audit earlier this year, which it passed.

“We are saying that there was a security audit conducted, we passed that security audit, and in fact they wanted how the audit was conducted to Dito be applied to the other telcos to make it industry-wide,” he said in a virtual press conference then.

Santiago said the results — including remediation measures required of Dito — were submitted to the inter-agency Committee on Cybersecurity and to the Office of the Executive Secretary.

“Na-conduct sa amin and I think they in the very near future, they will also require both the two other incumbents to undergo the same security audit,” he said.

Chief Administrative Officer Adel Tamano earlier responded to spying concerns saying that the company is run by Filipinos and will “never allow any espionage or anything that will be negative to our national security to happen to our operations.”

The company has also earmarked at least P1 billion for its cybersecurity initiatives, following concerns of espionage in relation to its co-location of cell sites with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).—AOL, GMA News

This article Hontiveros again raises spying concerns over Dito, telco says it already underwent security audit was originally published in GMA News Online.