ERC’s Salazar blasts House move to probe Villa’s suicide death over ‘midnight deals’

By Lenie Lectura - November 23, 2016

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/ercs-salazar-blasts-house-move-to-probe-villas-suicide-death-over-midnight-deals/

ENERGY Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairman Jose Vicente B. Salazar on Wednesday strongly rebuked “unscrupulous parties” for spreading false claims that the death of ERC Director Francisco Jose S. Villa Jr. was linked to “midnight deals” involving power-supply agreements.

“I lament the apparent attempt to piggyback on the unfortunate and untimely demise of our colleague. This is grossly unfair to him and to his memory,” Salazar, who took the top ERC post during the term of President Benigno S. Aquino III, said.

Party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna urged the House energy committee to investigate the alleged midnight deals between the ERC and power-generation companies affiliated with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which supposedly resulted in the suicide of Villa.

“This attempt is evident in the insinuation that the death of Director Villa may have also been precipitated by midnight deals allegedly linked between a large distribution utility and several power-generation companies,” Salazar said. “This smacks of opportunism and a blatant attempt to ride on the death of our colleague to advance a parochial agenda,” the ERC official said.

Villa took his own life on November 9. Suicide notes written three months ago indicate that he could no longer handle the pressure from Salazar.

“My greatest fear in the bids and awards committee is the AVP by Luis Morelos which the chairman and CEO, Jose Vicente B. Salazar, chose through a rigged selection system. That will be a criminal act,” Villa stated in his letters.

Salazar chose not to comment on the allegations, but assured to launch an impartial inquiry into the allegations to be done by an objective body.

“We have left that task totally in the hands of independent third-party investigators,” Salazar said, adding that he has also instructed all ERC officials to refrain from defending themselves. “I have issued this strict instruction based on the principle that we are not to defend our reputation at the expense of the memory of a dear colleague who served our organization well,” he added.

Just recently, ERC commissioners said they would never resign, and that they would face any investigation involving the matter. This was after President Duterte demanded all ERC officials to resign.

The ERC chairman said Villa has never been involved in the evaluation of applications for permits and approval of power-supply agreements (PSAs) between distribution utilities, electric cooperatives and generation companies. “That was never Director Villa’s job. That is the responsibility of our Market Operations Service and our Regulatory Operations Service, of which Director Villa has no connection.”

Villa, he said, was appointed as chairman of a bidding committee, the function of which is to procure goods and services, not to evaluate the requirements of power firms.

The party-list congressman criticized the ERC for extending an order that allowed all distribution companies to conduct a competitive selection process in power-supply procurement. Zarate said the deadline was originally set for November 6, 2015, but was “mysteriously” moved to April 30, 2016.

Zarate said that with the extension, Meralco—the largest power-distribution company—ended up securing 20-year PSAs with seven generation companies, which Zarate considered midnight deals  for having been signed only four days before the “new and generous” deadline set by the ERC.

“This alleged questionable and corruption-laden transactions within the ERC even resulted in the unfortunate death of ERC Director Francisco Villa on November 9, 2016, who supposedly left handwritten suicide notes narrating the pressures he received to approve anomalous transactions,” Zarate added.

Salazar said this “erroneous insinuation merely prove that there are parties who are more than willing to use his death to suit their own agenda.”

“I appeal to these parties to refrain from capitalizing on the death of our colleague,” the ERC official added.

For Meralco’s part, its lawyer said the PSAs were not part of the matters being taken up by the bids and awards committee of the ERC, which actually deals with internal contracts and procurement at the ERC.

Besides, the PSA applications of Meralco are still pending before the ERC. “It is therefore unfair and not truthful to insinuate any connection of these PSA applications to the current controversy at the ERC,” Meralco said.