(The Philippine Star) | Updated February 17, 2017 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines -
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has filed a bill seeking to abolish the Energy
Regulatory Commission (ERC) following allegations of corruption among its
officials.
Alvarez said the
suspicions raised against the integrity of the ERC could not be ignored.
The agency is tasked to
regulate the country’s power industry and promote competition in the market.
Alvarez cited reports
on the suicide of ERC director Francisco Jose Villa Jr., who left a note
alleging shady deals and irregular practices in the ERC.
He proposed the
abolition of the ERC and replacing it with the Board of Energy, which will be
an attached agency of the Department of Energy (DOE).
“This will ensure that
the newly created board will be within the regulatory arm of the government and
direct control and supervision of the President,” he said.
Alvarez’s House Bill
5020 provides that the Board of Energy will perform the functions of the ERC.
The board will be under
the supervision and control of the DOE and composed of a chairman and two
members to be appointed by the President upon recommendation of the energy
secretary.
To ensure no conflict
of interests, the bill prohibits the chairman and members of the board or any
of their relatives from holding any interest whatsoever in any company or
entity engaged in the energy business.
If they have
involvement in the energy business, they are required to divest all their
interests in the energy sector upon assumption of office.
The bill also prohibits
the appointment to the board of any person who has worked within three years
immediately prior to the appointment, or is working in any private firm engaged
in the petroleum or electric industry or any other entity whose main business
is related to or connected with any such firm.
During the transition
period, the ERC and its existing personnel should continue to exercise their
powers and functions.
In filling the
positions of the new board, preference shall be given to ERC personnel.
Meanwhile, Alvarez
joined calls to investigate the alleged corruption in the ERC by filing House Resolution
776.
He said that while the
ERC is tasked to regulate the country’s power industry, continuous price hikes
raised suspicions of collusion and corruption in the agency.
He said such suspicions
were bolstered by Villa’s suicide.
“In his suicide note,
Villa claimed that his superiors exerted pressure upon his person to approve
contracts that disregard the proper regulatory procedures,” Alvarez said.
He urged the House to
direct the committee on energy to conduct the investigation in aid of legislation.
During the joint
investigation conducted last Feb. 8 by the House committees on good government
and energy, four commissioners bared a “cloud of mistrust and fear” hanging
over the agency amid the allegations that Villa had raised.
The Villa
suicide also prompted Duterte to call for the resignation of all ERC
commissioners.
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