Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- July 8, 2018 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The suspension
of the four Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) commissioners will be
implemented tomorrow following the order of Malacañang.
ERC chair Agnes Devanadera said the
commission will implement the suspension after the Office of the Executive
Secretary directed the ERC to comply with the order of the Office of the
Ombudsman.
“The ERC received the memo on the
suspension of the four commissioners from the Office of the Executive Secretary
close to 6 p.m. yesterday. By then I already left the office. I will be able to
serve the suspension only (tomorrow), at the earliest,” she said in a text
message.
The order from Malacañang, signed by
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, called for the suspension of ERC
commissioners Alfredo Non, Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Patricia Asirit
and Geronimo Sta. Ana.
Medialdea said the order of the
ombudsman is “immediately executory and may not be interrupted by any motion,
appeal or petition that may be filed by the respondents, unless otherwise
ordered by the ombudsman or by any court of competent jurisdiction.”
Earlier, Rolly Faller, the counsel
of the four commissioners, said the agency was waiting for the Office of the
President (OP) to implement the ombudsman’s order before taking any action.
“Since the four commissioners are
under the OP, we will also wait for the disposition of the OP as to whether it
will cause the implementation of the suspension order,” he said.
Of the four commissioners, Non and
Taruc will be retiring on Tuesday. No replacements for them have been named.
“The retiring commissioners are on
leave already,” Devanadera said. “No replacement yet because the two are not
yet retired and the other two positions are not yet vacant.”
Last May, the ombudsman ordered the
three-month suspension of the four commissioners for failing to act on the
misuse of bill deposits by distribution utilities (DUs).
As its basis for the suspension
order, the ombudsman said the four commissioners continuously refrained from
strictly implementing rules defining the nature of bill deposits as “mere
guarantee in payment of bills,” which must be returned upon termination of the
DUs’ service.
The four commissioners have filed
for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the suspension order with the Court
of Appeals (CA), as this will prevent the regulator from functioning and acting
on the application, their legal counsel said.
This is the second time the four commissioners
have been suspended for failing to do their duty.
Last December, the Office of the
Ombudsman ordered the suspension of Non, Taruc, Asirit and Sta. Ana for one
year without pay for delaying the conduct of competitive bidding in securing
power-supply agreements (PSAs).
The competitive selection process
(CSP) policy – which requires DUs and electric cooperatives to undertake
competitive bidding to secure PSAs with generation companies – was supposed to
start on Nov. 7, 2015 but implementation was moved to April 30, 2016 to give
power players a transition period to comply. – With Christina Mendez
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