Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:01 AM June 18, 2019
ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — Panay Electric Co. (Peco) has asked the
Supreme Court to transfer to Metro Manila the venue of the expropriation case
against its assets filed by a company owned by businessman Enrique Razon Jr.
In a 15-page petition
filed on June 13, Peco sought the transfer to ensure the “objectivity and
neutrality of the court handling the case,” adding that it was necessary “for
expediency and judicial consistency” due to a related case pending before the
Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
Lawyer Hector Teodosio,
counsel for the Razon-owned More Electric and Power Corp. (More Power), said
More Power would oppose Peco’s petition.
“The properties
involved [in the expropriation case] are in Iloilo and the hearings of the case
should be held here,” Teodosio said.
He said the pleadings
of Peco, including the petition to transfer venue, would delay the proceedings.
Peco assets
More Power filed in the
Iloilo City RTC Branch 37 a petition for the issuance of a writ of possession
covering Peco’s distribution assets. It seeks to expropriate Peco’s assets,
estimated to be valued at P481,842,450.
Peco, which has been
operating in Iloilo City for 95 years, earlier filed in the Mandaluyong City
RTC a petition for declaratory relief seeking a preliminary injunction to stop
the expropriation and prevent the issuance of licenses and permits for the
distribution company to operate.
It also sought to
declare certain provisions of Republic Act (RA) No. 11212 invalid or
unconstitutional, including the provision allowing More Power to expropriate
Peco’s assets. RA 11212, signed by President Duterte on Feb. 14, granted
a 25-year franchise to More Power as Iloilo City’s power distributor.
Peco’s franchise
expired on Jan. 18 but the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) last month
granted a provisional certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to
Peco to continue distributing power in Iloilo City to prevent the disruption of
power supply to consumers.
The ERC said the
provisional CPCN was valid only within the two-year transition period when More
Power was mandated to take over the power distribution.
Ensuring neutrality
In its petition for a
transfer of venue, Peco cited the intensive media coverage of the case, which,
it claimed, could influence the court.
“Such pressure may
affect the way that the judge[s] may handle and treat the case, especially as
RTC Iloilo itself is a stakeholder in the expropriation case, being a consumer
of electricity, wherein both petitioner Peco and respondent More [Power] have
an interest,” according to the petition.
Peco said a transfer
“will ensure neutrality in the conduct of the proceedings if it is heard by
persons who are not emotionally attached to the issues and who stand to be
directly affected by any court decision on the matter.”
As an alternative, it
asked the high court to consolidate the expropriation case in the Iloilo RTC
Branch 37 with the case in the Mandaluyong RTC.
In a hearing at the
Iloilo RTC on Friday, Peco sought the suspension of proceedings, citing the
petition it filed in the high court.
But Judge Victor
Gelvezon denied the petition for suspension and set the next hearing on July 2.
—Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
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