ILOILO City – More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) was able to secure a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Court of Appeals’ Special 17th Division against the 20-day TRO granted to its rival Panay Electric Co. (PECO) by the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 209 in Mandaluyong City.
The issues that MORE Power raised were “of transcendental importance,” read part of the eight-page decision penned by Associate Justice Elihu A. Ybañez. These were the following:
* PECO’s franchise already expired
* a franchise to distribute power in Iloilo City had been granted to MORE Power
RTC Branch 209’s TRO issued on March 12, 2019 stops MORE Power from taking over PECO’s distribution assets and also halts the Department of Energy and/or Energy Regulatory Commission from issuing a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity or provisional authority or any other permits or licenses for MORE Power to operate in Iloilo City.
“The assailed Order enjoins the implementation of Republic Act 11212, (the) franchise of (MORE Power) granted by virtue of the (Electric Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA),” according to the appellate court.
But under Section 78 of the EPIRA, only the Supreme Court may issue an order enjoining EPIRA’s implementation, it stressed.
The Court of Appeals also said RTC Branch 209’s TRO prevents the Energy Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy from performing its mandate under Section 78 of the EPIRA, hence illegal.
Worse, it added, the TRO has the effect of extending the franchise of PECO, an authority vested with Congress and not with the court.
In a statement, PECO called the Court of Appeals’ TRO “unfortunate.”
But this does not mean MORE Power can immediately proceed to expropriate PECO’s assets, it stressed.
“At present, there is a Motion to Suspend Proceedings pending before the RTC of Iloilo City wherein we argued that the threshold issue on the constitutionality of MORE’s legislative franchise has to be resolved first as a prejudicial question by the RTC of Mandaluyong City prior to any act of expropriation on the part of MORE,” stated PECO.
It also said it would file a motion for reconsideration to have the Court of Appeals’ TRO lifted “since we believe the CA was misled by MORE’s misrepresentations in its petition.”
“We will continue to exercise and pursue all other legal remedies to defend our rights and protect the interest of the people of Iloilo against the unwarranted attempt of MORE to confiscate and take over our assets without due process in the guise of an unlawful expropriation procedure. We are confident that in the end, we and the people of Iloilo, who depend on PECO’s services, will be vindicated,” it added./PN
