Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
The number of
Commissioners, including the Chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission
(ERC), has been proposed to be expanded to seven from currently five being the
base of the regulatory body’s leadership.
That has been anchored
on a legislative measure currently under deliberations at the House of
Representatives and has been reportedly certified by House Speaker Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo as urgent.
In the original bill of
House Committee on Energy Chairman Lord Allan Velasco, he was batting for at
least nine ERC Commissioners to be appointed by the President – with some of
them to be deployed for regional assignments.
But in last week’s
hearing in the lower House, ERC Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera lodged a
counter-proposal, with her putting forward that seven Commissioners may already
be a prudent number for them to carry out their tasks.
Of the regulatory
body’s beefed up leadership, Devanadera noted that each Commissioner shall be
assigned to specific tasks – primarily in hearing and deliberating on cases
relating to rate applications; capital expenditures, the issuance of
certificates of compliance (COCs) to power facilities as well as tackle the rule-making
facets of the ERC task.
That way, according to
the ERC chairperson, these Commissioners would be able to gain specialization
if the fields or sphere of regulations they are being assigned to.
In the proposed
reorganization of the ERC, it was similarly advocated that the assignments of
the Commissioners be enforced on rotation basis, so they can gain wider
knowledge on their respective functions.
Following the conduct
of initial public hearings, the bill has been lined up for further discussions
at the technical working group (TWG) level.
When the bill’s loose
ends would finally be fine-tuned, the House committee on energy will pursue
other rounds of deliberation at the resumption of sessions on November 12 this
year.
It is targeted that the
ERC restructuring measure be passed into law before the adjournment of the
current Congress and the conduct of mid-term elections in May.
The ERC had been
adversely in the spotlight in the past two years due to the string of
controversies tied to its leadership.
That then prompted
Congress to recommend a pathway on its restructuring so it can serve better the
needs of the industry in a manner that should be fast and efficient, and
according to the expectations of the Filipino consumers that the industry
regulator ought to protect.
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