Landowners warned vs. persons posing as DITO employees for site acquisition

Third telco DITO Telecommunity Corp. on Friday said locations for its infrastructure and telecommunications facilities are pre-determined as it warned landowners of persons claiming to be DITO employees for the supposed site acquisitions.

In a public advisory, DITO said the locations for the construction of its towers, base stations, and other similar structures for its roll-out and launch have already been predetermined and were included in the plan submitted to the Philippine government even before July of 2019.

The company issued the advisory amid alleged scams, proliferating on social media, done in DITO’s name regarding site acquisition issues facing some landowners.

“We wish to assure the public that anyone caught misrepresenting themselves as employees or representatives of DITO Telecommunity or any of its Vendors will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the company said.

DITO said it has appointed only four duly authorized representatives or “vendors” to assist in site acquisition. These are Huawei for North Luzon and the National Capital Region, ZTE for South Luzon and the Visayas, and Nokia-Huaxin for Mindanao as well as Udenna Infrastructure Corp.

“These Vendors and their agents have been provided authorization letters and identification. DITO has disclosed the identities of these Vendors and their agents to the respective local government units,” the company said.

DITO said the company or its vendors or any of its representatives and agents never promise lump sum rental payment to landowners.

The company added that it only provides a maximum three months advance on monthly rentals to landowners based on the memorandum.

“DITO or the vendors or any of its representatives and agents never request or demand advance payment or ‘processing’ fees from landowners,” it said.

“DITO or the vendors or any of its representatives and agents never request or ask for ‘commissions’ from landowners,” it added.

The DITO said Site Acquisition (SAQ) team or the vendors or any of its representatives and agents survey the pre-identified sites and alternative sites that are within a 300-meter radius of the nominal point.

“A memorandum is provided to the landowner. This memorandum contains specific details pertaining to rental fees, rental escalation, conditions, and other contractual terms,” it said.

“The DITO SAQ team or the Vendors or any of its representatives and agents check and validate documents provided by the landowner. The last step is contract signing,” it added. —KBK, GMA News