(The Philippine Star) | Updated November 23, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines –
Should officials of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) continue to defy
President Duterte’s call for them to resign amid alleged anomalies in the
agency, other options may be considered, like filing of cases in court, a
Palace official said yesterday.
Assistant
Communications Secretary Marie Banaag said Malacañang understands that the ERC
officials have fixed terms of office and could not be easily booted out.
The call for
resignation came after ERC director Francisco Villa Jr., head of the agency’s
bids and awards body, committed suicide last Nov. 9. He left notes insinuating
he was under pressure from his superiors to do corrupt activities.
Duterte, who was then
in Peru attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, demanded the
resignation of all ERC officials.
“The President has
guidelines toward corruption cases,” Banaag said.
Commissioners Alfredo
Non, Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana said they
will not resign, while ERC chief Jose Vicente Salazar has not categorically
stated that he would not heed the President’s call.
Salazar, who was
appointed by former president Benigno Aquino III last year, said he wanted to
set a meeting with Duterte to clear things up.
He added that he would
take “appropriate actions to protect the organization,” like asking the
Commission on Audit to look into Villa’s allegations and participating in the
planned Senate inquiry.
Banaag said she is not
aware that a letter requesting for an audience with the President has been
received.
“We don’t know if
President Duterte would want a dialog. Perhaps, these developments have reached
the President. They are still in flight (from Peru) but they are updated every
time there is a network signal,” Banaag added.
House mulls abolishing ERC
The House of
Representatives, for its part, will consider abolishing the ERC after Duterte
called on lawmakers to shut it down.
“We will be studying
the abolition of the ERC through an amendment of the EPIRA law,” energy
committee chairman Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco of Marinduque said yesterday.
He was referring to the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
“The ERC is a creature
of law. It is a quasi-judicial regulatory body tasked to promote competition,
encourage market development and penalize abuses in the market of the
electricity industry,” he said.
He said the commission
plays an important role in monitoring the activities of industry players.
Velasco added that his
committee would decide whether to replace ERC with another body or transfer its
functions to the Department of Energy.
No midnight deals
Meanwhile, the Manila
Electric Co. (Meralco) has refuted allegations of midnight deals with the ERC
after it was tagged in anomalous dealings which were revealed following the
suicide of the agency’s bids and awards committee chief.
The power distributors’
power supply agreements (PSAs) were filed “in accordance with existing ERC
rules and regulations which go through a very transparent and rigorous public
hearing process,” Meralco legal head William Pamintuan said in a statement.
“The fact of the matter
is that these PSA applications are still pending hearing 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,” he said.
Moreover, the PSAs are
not part of the matters being taken up by the bids and award committee of the
ERC, which deals with internal contracts and procurement at the ERC, Pamintuan
said.
Last April, Meralco
signed 20-year power supply deals with seven generation companies for over
3,551 megawatts of electricity supply to cover the growing requirements of its
franchise area.
Meralco then filed
separate applications with the ERC for approval of the PSAs.
However, these
applications were filed just a day before the competitive selection process
(CSP) policy took effect on April 30. –
With Jess Diaz, Danessa Rivera
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