By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated January 4, 2018 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department
of Energy (DOE) is asking Malacañang to appoint temporary commissioners to help
resolve the regulatory vacuum in the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
DOE Undersecretary Felix William
Fuentebella warned there would be delays in the approval of the applications
pending with the ERC even though the agency is working to ensure that there
would be no power interruption in the country.
Earlier, ERC chairperson and CEO
Agnes Devanadera said the one-year suspension order on the four commissioners
would paralyze the whole power industry with P1.59 billion worth of pending
applications before the agency, which could lead to possible occurrence of
power outages in Metro Manila and in the provinces.
Fuentebella said Energy Secretary
Alfonso Cusi has written a letter to the Office of the President (OP) to look
into the possibility of appointing temporary commissioners.
The letter was submitted soon after
the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the suspension of ERC commissioners Alfredo
Non, Gloria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Patricia Magpale-Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana
for one year without pay for delaying the conduct of competitive bidding in
securing power supply deals.
“They are looking at the legal
implications, it’s the lawyers there doing that,” Fuentebella said.
Since the ERC acts as a collegial
body, the presence of at least three members of the commission is needed to
constitute a quorum to enable the ERC to adopt any ruling, order, resolution,
decision or other acts of the Commission in the exercise of its quasi-judicial
and quasi-legislative functions.
Under Republic Act (RA) 9136 or the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the President has the authority to
appoint the chairman and four commissioners of the ERC.
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