NGCP to donate P1B to Duterte response vs. COVID-19

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines -- through its major stakeholders Henry Sy, Jr., Robert Coyiuto Jr., and the State Grid of China Corp. (SGCC) -- will donate P1 billion to the Philippine government for efforts against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

In a letter to President Rodrigo Duterte, the NGCP said P500 million of the amount would be donated in the form of goods and medical equipment, while the remaining P500 million will be in cash for COVID-19 response purposes.

"NGCP will donate P1 billion to aid our medical frontliners to support the President's efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Philippines," the letter read.

Dated March 30, 2020, the letter was signed by NGCP president and chief executive officer Anthony Almeda.

Under its ownership structure, SHCC has a 40% stake in NGCP while the remaining 60% stake is shared by Henry Sy. Jr.'s Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. and Robert Coyiuto Jr.'s Calaca High Power Corp. which each hold a 30% stake.

Just last month, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Sherwin Gatchalian warned the NGCP that it must allow a government audit, after Senator Richard Gordon presented a document signed by Wen Bo, a Chinese national who has a chief technical officer of the NGCP.

Calls for an audit date back to as early as last year, but Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the NGCP had been uncooperative in having a security audit of its system, adding that China had the potential to remotely shut down the power transmission grid because of its digital nature.

For its part, the NGCP has maintained that China has no remote control of the country’s power lines, and that “it’s difficult to answer [TransCo] when the question keeps changing.”

The NGCP earlier said that the Philippine grid could only be shut down by manually switching off breakers in each of the 200 substations across the country.