MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).

In his keynote speech at the Malacañang Palace, Marcos said the MOU was a milestone in the Philippine government's effort to protect the country from possible cyberattacks, particularly on its energy infrastructure.

Malacañang earlier said that the MOU would also ensure the NGCP's continued service of providing power to communities through intelligence- and data-driven analysis from NICA.

The partnership between NGCP and NICA, Marcos said, would also shore up the country's defenses "against any possible attacks on our power systems [and] on any other of the elements in our everyday lives that require power."

Such efforts would require "the exchange of secure information amongst ourselves in society," he added.

Marcos noted that the MOU signing was also a way to address fears of a potential security threat due to a foreign entity's involvement in the country's power transmission system, as the NGCP's consortium has the State Grid Corporation of China as its technical partner.

The MOU between NGCP and NICA will also enable the Philippines to handle key data "in a secure fashion without the risk of it being used somehow against the Philippines," Marcos said.

"This MOU... will make much clearer the requirement of our intelligence services to ensure that we are safe and that we are secure. Let this be an example to all the other sectors that could be assessed to be at risk when it comes to cybersecurity," the President added.

"It is a good signal to all of us who have concerns in this regard that we are doing many things to make sure that the Philippines remains secure... and its people can rest assured that their territory, their data, their personal information will not be used against us."

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