The Philippine National Police (PNP) cleared Tuesday Chinese giant telecommunication company Huawei on allegations of espionage, quoting an investigation conducted by its cybersecurity experts.
PNP spokesman Col. Bernard Banac said the in-depth probe conducted by the police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group disclosed that there is no indication whatsoever that the Chinese telecommunication firm even attempted to access top secret police files.
“We have not obtained pieces of evidence that would prove Huawei spied on us. We have been receiving information about the alleged espionage but there is no proof on that,” said Banac.
The Chinese telecommunication is currently embroiled in espionage issue, with the United States saying that the use of Huawei may put the user into Chinese espionage since the telecom firm has been allegedly receiving funds from the Chinese government.
A top official of Huawei was recently placed under house arrest in Canada on US request over alleged violation of the rules on sanctions against Iran.
The most recent controversy involving Huawei was when Google suspends Huawei access on some updates on Android.
The PNP was dragged into the controversy after reports disclosed that Huawei is one of the major sponsors in the recently-concluded summit of the ACG, the PNP’s anti-cybercrime unit.
The Philippine government is also negotiating with Huawei for camera surveillance system in the Philippines.
“Since this issue came up, we conducted validation and today, we found out that there is no sufficient evidence that connects Huawei to allegations of espionage,” said Banac.
Banac was also quick to clarify that the PNP has no current contracts with Huawei.
He said Huawei’s sponsorship on ACG is purely on the matter of business. (Aaron Recuenco)
