PH Warns of Growing Threats to Critical Undersea Infrastructure

Philippine officials are calling for stronger protection of critical undersea infrastructure as submarine cables, energy pipelines, and other maritime systems face growing risks from gray-zone tactics, sabotage, geopolitical tensions, and cyberattacks. The warning was raised Tuesday, September 8, at the Department of Foreign Affairs-organized Experts’ Forum on Critical International Maritime Infrastructure. Critical maritime infrastructure includes submarine telecommunications and power cables, pipelines, offshore energy facilities, and other systems that support communications, internet connectivity, energy supply, and economic activity. The stakes are significant. Submarine telecommunications cables carry more than 99% of international data traffic, according to the International Telecommunication Union. In the Philippines, the Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network stretches approximately 2,500 kilometers and links islands from Quezon to Zamboanga. The Malampaya project, meanwhile, uses a 504-kilometer deepwater pipeline to transport natural gas from its offshore facilities northwest of Palawan to an onshore gas processing plant in Tabangao, Batangas. Justice Department Chief State Counsel Dennis Chan warned of the potential consequences if such infrastructure were deliberately damaged. “One can only imagine the scale and gravity of the crisis that our country will be facing if these cables or pipelines are sabotaged. Despite its significance, however, little attention is paid to these cables and pipelines while they silently do their work at the bottom of the seas and the oceans,” Chan said. Expanding threats Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Leo Herrera-Lim said threats to maritime infrastructure have expanded beyond natural disasters and piracy. “Many of these maritime infrastructures face unprecedented threats. The risks are expanding from traditional natural disasters and piracy to gray zone tactics, state-sponsored cyber attacks, physical sabotage, and the hybrid realities of geopolitical friction,” Herrera-Lim said. His warning comes as the Philippines continues to face maritime tensions in the West Philippine Sea. In July, Philippine authorities reported China Coast Guard vessels using water cannons and carrying out dangerous maneuvers against Philippine vessels near Bajo de Masinloc. The DFA said last week that it had lodged 39 diplomatic protests over China’s actions in the West Philippine Sea so far in 2026. The DFA stressed that protecting maritime infrastructure is not limited to safeguarding physical assets but also means protecting connectivity, communications, commerce, energy security, and national resilience. Department of Energy Undersecretary Giovanni Carlo Bacordo identified three major areas of vulnerability: physical and climate risks, geopolitical and regional threats, and cyber threats. The DOE cited previous cases in which ships’ anchors damaged submarine power cables as an example of the vulnerability of energy infrastructure. Bacordo said the risks become more serious in contested waters. “The geopolitical and regional threats. In contested waters, our islands face covert subsea reconnaissance, physical harassment, and exploration and development risks from unauthorized actors,” Bacordo said. “As we digitalize into smart grids, our remote SCADA networks and offshore substations become prime targets for malicious cyber threats.” The DOE said the country needs better subsea domain awareness and integrated monitoring systems to detect threats to critical infrastructure, including possible suspicious activity on the seabed. The Justice Department, meanwhile, raised concerns over whether existing Philippine laws are sufficient to address deliberate attacks on critical underwater infrastructure, particularly when these occur in the country’s exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. “For submarine cables and pipelines found in our territorial sea and archipelagic waters, hence under the Philippines’ sovereignty, attacks against them can be prosecuted under the Revised Penal Code on damage to property,” Chan said. The legal situation becomes more complicated farther offshore. “What appears challenging, however, are attacks on submarine cables and pipelines in our exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, areas not subject to our sovereignty but on which we only exercise sovereign rights under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Chan said. The DOJ cited as a hypothetical example a foreign fishing vessel deliberately dragging its anchor across the seabed to damage a cable or pipeline, particularly if a civilian vessel were acting under instructions from another state as part of hybrid warfare. “In such a case, why can’t the coastal state, like the Philippines for that matter, prosecute these foreign offenders directly? This situation highlights the gap and inadequacy of existing laws to deal with these modern problems,” Chan said. The DOJ has begun institutionalizing a permanent Maritime Advisory and Legal Action Unit that would focus on protecting the Philippine maritime domain through the strategic use of law, including recommending legislation and rules to address gaps in the country’s maritime legal framework. Philippine officials clarified that the discussions did not identify any particular country as the source of potential threats to critical maritime infrastructure. Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro said the issue should eventually be taken up in broader regional mechanisms. “This should be incorporated with ASEAN in the East Asia Summit forum, ARF, because this is an issue and a forthcoming issue that will come out,” Lazaro said. The Philippines is chairing ASEAN in 2026, giving Manila an opportunity to bring maritime infrastructure resilience into regional discussions involving ASEAN and its dialogue partners. The Experts’ Forum on Critical International Maritime Infrastructure was attended by representatives from countries in the European Union and other allied countries, such as Canada, as well as experts from the Department of Information and Communications Technology and other Philippine agencies. — VBL, GMA News