PERRYSCOPE
Perry Diaz
Embroiled in
controversy, the Safe Philippines project is facing strong opposition in the
Philippine Senate due to negative reports about the contractor’s ties with
China. Allegations are that the Safe Philippines project would allow
China to spy on the Philippines and pose national security
risk. Safe Philippines is a 12,000-camera closed-circuit television
(CCTV) system to be installed in the cities of Quezon,
Marikina, Parañaque, Pasig, San Juan, Valenzuela, and Davao. The
project is a partnership between the Department of the Interior and Local
Government (DILG) and China International Telecommunication Construction
Corporation (CITCC) and Huawei. CITCC will undertake the project while
Huawei will supply the equipment. The project will cost P20.31
billion, of which P1.2 billion will be shouldered by the Philippine government,
while the rest will be paid through a soft loan from China Eximbank.
CITCC is an
affiliate of state-owned China Telecom, one of the firms in
Mislatel Consortium, soon to become the country’s third
telecommunication player. The project is supposed to start this year and
will be completed by late 2021 or early 2022.
Red flags
But senators
have raised red flags over the surveillance project since 2018 when then Senate
President Ralph Recto filed a resolution to probe the surveillance system
project, citing hacking and espionage allegations against Huawei. However,
nothing came out of that investigation.
Recently,
Sen. Leila de Lima filed Senate Resolution No. 275 to formally call for a
Senate inquiry on the Safe Philippines project, claiming that the project is an
opportunity for China to spy on Filipinos. She said Filipinos’
right to privacy requires a Senate inquiry into how information will be
collected by the Chinese firms behind the project.
"Granting
a country whose global reputation for its forceful espionage activities has
raised worldwide concern, the opportunity to create a surveillance system in
our country should raise a red flag for our policymakers to ensure that none of
our national interests are compromised by such agreements, particularly our
national security," De Lima said in a dispatch she sent from her jail cell
in Camp Crame.
However, Interior
Secretary Eduardo Año had assured the project will be handled by Filipinos.
"They provide the equipment, and after providing the equipment, we'll take
care of this. There will be no adviser, there will be no Chinese technician,
all Filipino," he said.
According to
Año, the Safe Philippines project will enable a more efficient management of
public order, safety, and security. He said the project is expected
to reduce crime rate by 15% and increase response rate of law enforcers and
responders by 25%. These include police and fire personnel that act during
natural and human-induced emergencies.
So, what’s
the problem then?
Several
countries – U.S., Japan, Taiwan, and Australia -- have banned public procurement
of equipment from Huawei or have rejected it from developing their information
and communications technology infrastructure due to “rising security concerns.”
Backdoors
A recent
Bloomberg report revealed that European telecommunications company Vodafone
had troubles with “hidden backdoors in the software” that could have spelled
out a security issue, giving Huawei “unauthorized access to [Vodafone’s]
fixed-line network in Italy” back in 2011 and 2012.
According
to the report, “a backdoor is vulnerability in a device or software that could
allow access to a system by a third party.” It is a means of
bypassing the security mechanisms of a computer system to access its
data. Western nations like the US are worried that it might be in the
interest of Huawei – and by extension, the Chinese government – to use
backdoors to collect intelligence on countries where their equipment is used.
The intelligence collected may then be given to China, which can be used
commercially or politically. Further, the report said: “Although it
has been clarified that the problems back then were solved, some people
involved in the security discussions, according to Bloomberg,
revealed that problems remained. In fact, they said that problems
were even present outside Italy, in countries like the United Kingdom,
Germany, Spain, and Portugal.”
Huawei had
denied any connection to China, saying that it is owned by its
employees. However, its alleged ties with the Chinese government is
a matter that still worries the U.S. and other countries in the West.
But its
founder, Ren Zhengfei, was a former officer in the People’s Liberation Army.
Can Huawei be coerced or swayed by the powers-that-be in China?
In December
2018, Huawei’s chief financial officer was ordered arrested by a New York court
for alleged violation of sanctions in Iran. It led the U.S. to ask a
Canadian court to extradite her. is a means of bypassing the
security mechanisms of a computer system to access its
data.
Big Brother
The question
is: With all the bad press Huawei has been getting, are there other issues that
could compromise the Safe Philippines project from exposing the national
security of the country and the privacy of the Filipino people from “Big
Brother” intrusion? In other words, what guarantees do Filipinos
have that the Chinese government isn’t monitoring their moves? It is
a known fact that digital facial recognition is an integral part of CCTV.
That means that once your image is captured in the CCTV data base, people’s movements
are monitored and recorded.
And while the
Safe Philippines project would reduce crime rate by 15% and increase response
rate of law enforcers and responders by 25%, it deprives the citizens of 100%
of their privacy. Ultimately, the question is: How safe is the Safe
Philippines project? (PerryDiaz@gmil.com)
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