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Executive session: Minority Sen. Francis Pangilinan, during the virtual hearing of the Committee on Public Services Monday, December 7, 2020, looking into proposals to renew the franchise granted to Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc., now Dito Telecommunity Corporation, recommends the holding of an executive session to tackle the serious national security implications of allowing Chinese companies that have direct links to the People’s Liberation Army to operate in the country. Pangilinan said that the United States Defense Department in June 2020 released a list of 20 Chinese companies that have direct links with the PLA... and China Telecom Corp. Ltd., part of the Mislatel Consortium, is one of them. “May we request perhaps to consider, at some point, that we have an executive session to discuss the very sensitive national security issues surrounding these latest developments and the approval of this franchise?” Pangilinan asked. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)