The Konektadong Pinoy Act has been sold as a victory for digital inclusion. But history tells us that opportunity without safeguards often leads to exploitation. From POGOs to Dito, loopholes have already opened doors to foreign control. Unless fortified, this new law could become a Trojan Horse—an invasion without guns and bullets, but with consequences just as devastating.
On August 24, 2025, the Konektadong Pinoy Act—formally the Open Access in Data Transmission Act—quietly lapsed into law.
Its supporters celebrated it as a landmark reform. They promised it would break the duopoly of PLDT, and Globe, attract new competitors, and finally bring fast, affordable internet to millions of Filipinos, especially in underserved communities.
But beyond the rhetoric of inclusion, critics from the industry and security sectors warn that the law’s loopholes could expose the Philippines to serious threats: from cybersecurity breaches, to economic exploitation, to infiltration by foreign state-backed players. What was pitched as progress may in fact be a Trojan Horse.
PLDT’s STRONGEST WARNING
Among the major telcos, PLDT has raised the most forceful opposition. The company has vowed to challenge the law in court, calling it reckless deregulation. PLDT argues that by removing the long-standing requirement for Congressional franchises and watering down spectrum oversight, the Act strips away vital safeguards that have long protected both consumers and critical infrastructure.
For PLDT, this is not just a matter of competition. It is about preserving constitutional oversight, regulatory stability, and national sovereignty.
CONVERGE: FAIR RULES OR FOREIGN DOMINANCE
Converge ICT has been more measured but equally wary. CEO Dennis Anthony Uy has stressed the importance of clear and fair rules, warning that without them, the law risks tilting the playing field in favor of state-backed foreign giants capable of flooding the market.
Converge’s call is pragmatic: competition must be genuine, not a disguise for dominance.
GLOBE: A SUPPORTING CAUTION
Globe Telecom, while less confrontational than PLDT, has echoed industry concerns. Globe pointed out risks in the two-year grace period for cybersecurity compliance and the unregulated use of spectrum by satellite operators, which could interfere with defense and disaster-response systems.
Globe’s voice is more restrained, but it underscores the industry consensus: this law carries risks that cannot be ignored.
PCTO: THE INDUSTRY’S INSTITUTIONAL VOICE
The Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators (PCTO), representing the broader industry, has also spoken against the law. PCTO warned that Konektadong Pinoy undermines regulatory integrity, dismantling safeguards in favor of an open-door policy vulnerable to abuse.
Taken together, PLDT, Converge, Globe, and PCTO present a united front: the law, in its current form, opens the Philippines up to dangers far beyond just pricing wars.
GOVERNMENT REASSURANCES
The government, however, has maintained optimism.
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda defended the law as a tool for digital inclusion, disaster resilience, and lower consumer costs. He promised that the government “will not compromise cybersecurity in the pursuit of universal access.”
Malacañang stayed neutral, stressing that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to let the bill lapse into law was neither endorsement nor rejection. Meanwhile, lawmakers like Senator Grace Poe hailed it as a landmark reform that would level the playing field and attract fresh investments.
But critics argue these reassurances miss the bigger point: the absence of airtight safeguards and security expertise built into the law itself.
THE GHOST OF POGOs
History provides painful reminders. Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) were once touted as a revenue stream for the government. Instead, they became conduits for illegal gambling, money laundering, and human trafficking. POGOs drained Filipino households financially, preyed on the poor, and created enclaves that functioned beyond government control.
What began as an economic opportunity mutated into a national security crisis. Families were destroyed, communities destabilized, and the state left scrambling to contain the damage.
The Konektadong Pinoy Act risks becoming the digital equivalent of that mistake. Just as POGOs exploited regulatory gaps in gambling, unvetted telco players could exploit gaps in cyberspace—embedding themselves into the very networks that power government, military, and everyday life.
THE DITO QUESTION
The precedent of Dito Telecommunity raises even more questions. Backed by China Telecom, a state-owned enterprise, Dito’s entry in 2019 triggered warnings about espionage and surveillance risks. Even the Department of Defense worried about Dito towers inside military camps potentially serving as listening posts for Beijing.
This experience forces us to ask:
- Can the Konektadong Pinoy Act really prevent state-owned companies from entering? Dito’s existence suggests otherwise.
- Why is the National Security Council (NSC) absent from the Act’s list of stakeholders? DICT, PCC, and NTC are tasked with oversight, but none of them are national security experts.
- What happens if a shell company applies, secretly funded by a foreign state? No firm will declare state backing upfront, yet its ownership could still trace back to Beijing or another power.
The concern is not hypothetical. The Philippines occupies a strategic location in the South China Sea, just south of Taiwan, and is bound by a Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States. In any conflict over Taiwan, the Philippines would be a frontline state. For China, embedding influence in Philippine telecom infrastructure would be a strategic coup.
INCLUSION OR EXPLOITATION?
Proponents frame the law as digital inclusion. But inclusion without protection is exploitation. The very Filipinos it claims to uplift—the poor, the disconnected, the underserved—could end up bearing the heaviest burden.
- Cybersecurity gaps could expose citizens to fraud, identity theft, and surveillance.
- Defense communications could be disrupted in a time of crisis.
- Predatory platforms—illegal gambling, scam apps, and data-harvesting tools—could thrive in a deregulated landscape.
- Dependency, not empowerment: cheap internet controlled by foreign-backed firms would mean sovereignty traded away for short-term gains.
This is the dark irony of Konektadong Pinoy: it promises inclusion but risks writing a playbook for exploitation.
A CALL TO VIGILANCE
The challenge is urgent.
- The NSC must be included in drafting the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). Leaving it to DICT, PCC, and NTC alone is not enough—none are equipped with national security expertise.
- Incumbent telcos must be consulted in the IRR process. They were sidelined during the creation of the bill, a mistake that should not be repeated.
- Regulators must close loopholes before they are exploited.
- Lawmakers must refine and amend the law to prioritize national security.
- Citizens must demand not only connectivity, but protection in the digital space they inhabit daily.
The Konektadong Pinoy Act may indeed deliver wider access and cheaper prices. But unless fortified with safeguards, it risks becoming a Trojan Horse—an invasion without guns and bullets, where control is seized not by armies, but by those who own the pipes of information.
FILIPINO FIRST
This debate is not simply about internet speeds or consumer choice. It is about sovereignty.
Filipinos deserve inclusion, but not if it means exploitation. They deserve progress, but not if it comes at the cost of handing over control to foreign powers.
The guiding principle in the drafting of the IRR must be simple: FILIPINO FIRST.
Because in this new battlefield of fiber, satellites, and code, the weapons are invisible—but the consequences are all too real.
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