A SENATOR has filed a resolution seeking an inquiry into the potential national security risks of wider foreign presence on three Philippine islands.

Senator Ralph G. Recto said development projects on the Islands of Fuga, Grande and Chiquita in northern Philippines could become a security risk, an issue that Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had also raised.

“Foreign control of the islands of Fuga, Grande and Chiquita can potentially provide a locus to access, surveil and control strategic locations in the Pacific Ocean, West Philippine Sea, Luzon Strait and Subic Bay,” Mr. Recto said in Senate Resolution 84.

The development projects include business agreements worth $12.16 billion that the Philippines and China had agreed on during a Belt and Road Initiative forum in Beijing in April.

Among these were six memoranda of understanding signed by the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority for projects on the Island of Fuga in Aparri, Cagayan and other areas under CEZA. Also signed was a framework deal between GFTG Property Holdings and Sanya CEF Sino-Philippine Investment Corp. to develop Grande and Chiquita islands in Subic Bay, Zambales province.

“The island of Fuga is in proximity to telecommunications submarine cables that connect the Philippines to territories in Mainland Asia and North America,” according to Mr. Recto.

Meanwhile, Grande and Chiquita may be allowing surveillance of civilian and military naval assets in Subic Bay and the South China Sea, he said.

Mr. Lorenzana earlier warned that the development projects might affect national security, noting that the Philippine Navy had not been consulted before the agreements were signed.

Mr. Recto asked the Senate defense committee to come up with mechanisms to preserve Philippine territorial integrity and counter the risks of business and economic deals with foreigners.

Aside from Mr. Recto, Senators Maria Lourdes S. Binay and Risa N. Hontiveros have also separately filed resolutions to investigate the development of the three islands.

Mr. Lorenzana earlier said the Philippine military was looking at the security risks of Chinese-dominated online gaming operations in the capital, where gambling centers are very near military installations.

While online gambling operations are not by themselves a security threat, there is a potential for these “to be used by unscrupulous people to attack or to even listen to what we are saying — to spy on us,” Mr. Lorenzana told “The Chiefs” segment on Cignal’s One News Channel.

There is a POGO center at Eastwood City and another at Araneta Center near Camp Aguinaldo, the Armed Forces headquarters in Quezon City, Mr. Lorenzana said.

Resorts World, a joint venture between Alliance Global Group and Genting Hong Kong, is occupying part of a former military camp and is near Villamor Airbase, home of the Philippine Air Force.

Senator Leila de Lima last month warned against the planned setup of a 32-hectare complex called Pogo Island in Kawit, Cavite, which she claimed could be the start of a creeping Chinese colonization.

There were earlier reports that a wealthy Chinese-Filipino businessman had bought the former Island Cove resort from the Remulla clan in Cavite and turned it into a complex for Chinese POGO workers.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte has sought closer trade and investment ties with Beijing since he assumed power in 2016 as part of his pivot away from the US.

Philippine police in April said it would probe claims that China could use Huawei for spying. Authorities later found no evidence of that. The US has increased pressure on its allies to sever ties with the telecommunication company. — Charmaine A. Tadalan

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