Xenophobia weaponized

“Bottom line is that Rody said he would believe China rather than Carpio.

Retired Associate Justice Renato Carpio and like-minded detractors of President Rody Duterte hit the headlines recently by making up a conspiracy script worthy of a movie production wherein the Chinese hold vital utility services in the country.

The storyline was apparently a sequel of the tale about foreign military agents working in Philippine offshore gaming operators as having invaded the country.

Having failed in convincing Rody that irritating China by insisting on the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling to pursue the claim of the Philippines on the West Philippine Sea, Carpio and his cohorts have resorted to fear-mongering.

Rody has made it a policy to set aside the territorial conflict in favor of having better relations with China to benefit the economy and the nation.

The allegations of a Chinese company owning the electricity grid in the country are as fictitious as the 27,000 toll peddled by coup plotter Antonio Trillanes IV on the war on drugs.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) that runs the electricity network is a concessionaire of the government-run National Transmission Corp. (TransCo), which is the true owner of the power grid.

State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is a 40 percent owner of NGCP in accordance with the constitutional limit on foreign capital.

The arrangement is similar to that of the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System with service providers Manila Water Co. Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc.

Of course, the fiction was spread to the usual foreign conduits to add more pressure against China, which the United States and other Western interests are trying to contain as a result of its determined advance in being a world power.

The Chinese government laughed off the allegations, saying in effect that it insults the capability of its companies doing responsible business in the Philippines.

The anti-Sino sentiment of Carpio and the yellow cabal is too obvious since they are never heard in raising the same argument, for instance, against Chevron and Dutch Royal Shell in their participation in the Malampaya natural gas project, which can be considered as having the same security concerns.

A spokesman of the mainland’s Foreign Ministry said SGCC was taken in as a cooperation partner to provide safe, efficient and high-quality electricity services.

The Chinese firm comes in only “upon request” by its local partner, the Chinese official explained.

Chinese businesses, like any other concerns operated by other nations, actively fulfill their social responsibilities.

The ministry cited the “Brighten Up” project that brings electricity to remote areas in the Philippines through solar power as an example.

Even the President is not buying Carpio’s argument.

Rody said the set up in the private operators of the transmission grid cannot be a problem.

The bottom line is that Rody said he would believe China rather than Carpio.

“It is Carpio who I can’t trust because he does not make any sense. What are the things he said that became beneficial to the Philippines?” Rody threw at the former magistrate.

Carpio and the usual opponents of Rody were apparently playing on the prevailing doubts of Filipinos, which was reflected in a recent survey that showed a lot of work is still needed to shore up the trust with the country’s neighbor.

The hope is that fanning the anti-China sentiment would eventually lead to chipping away at the high public confidence on Rody.