PECO hits ‘hasty approval’ of MORE franchise application

PRESIDENTIAL son-in-law Manases Carpio (right) with wife Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte (left) and President Rodrigo Duterte.

PANAY Electric Co. (PECO), the sole power distributor in Iloilo City, has tapped presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio to defend its franchise renewal application before the House of Representatives.

In a Sept 24, 2018 letter to Palawan Rep. Franz Josef Alvarez, chair of the Hosue franchise committee, Carpio’s law firm asked the committee to hold the approval of House Bill No. 8132 granting a franchise to More Minerals Corp. (MMC), now MORE Electric and Power Corp., because it lacks the record and experience to distribute electricity.

Carpio is the husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte.

PECO is seeking to renew its franchise, which will expire in 2019, through House Bill No. 6023, which has been pending since July.

Carpio said in the letter that Peco was objecting “in the strongest terms possible” to the alleged indecent haste and lack of justification for the committee to favor HB 8132 over HB 6023.

HB 6023 was filed on July 22, 2017 by Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo, while HB 8132 was filed on Aug, 22 by Paranaque Rep. Gus Tambunting.

PECO said its “workforce, key industry players, stockholders and residents of the firm’s franchise area, were shocked that the Alvarez-led committee moved on Sept. 17 to approve the MMC measure without giving the other party a chance to voice out their objections during the committee deliberations.”

Carpio said PECO’s franchise renewal bid was based on established track records and experience in power distribution, and “consistent with the ‘prior operator principle’ which gives preference, all other things being equal, to the prior holder of a franchise granted by the government over other applicants.”

The lawyer also scored the committee for the purported rush in approving HB 8132, thus handing over the Iloilo City franchise to an applicant without any track record in power distribution and which “appears to be a mere shell company with a measly paid-up capital of only P2.5 million.”

Carpio said that based on information, the committee “did not exert efforts to ensure that PECO representatives and other stakeholders were present during the hearings to give them the chance to air their sentiments, views, motives and motivations relative to the franchise issue.”

“We thus respectfully request your committee to hold in abeyance its approval of the franchise application of More Minerals Corp. under HB 8132 until after more public hearings, with proper invitations to attend and adequate notice given to stakeholders, shall have been conducted on the matter,” Carpio’s letter added.

“We believe that this is the best way to serve public interest as your committee goes about its business of determining which of the franchise applicants deserves its nod.”

An umbrella organization of electric distributors across the country earlier rallied behind Peco, saying a faulty decision by Congress on the issue would likely trigger a potentially damaging power crisis in Iloilo City.

SOURCE: The Daily Guardian

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