ILOILO City – This city’s new
electricity distribution utility (DU) More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE
Power) derisively welcomed the announcement of old utility Panay Electric Co.
(PECO) that it plans to invest P1.1 billion in the next 10 years as nothing
more than a publicity and legal gimmickry.
“I commend franchise-denied PECO, its legal advisers and PR strategists for
making that statement to spend P1.1 billion. This is the amount, more or less,
they owe the consumers. What the consumers in Iloilo are paying since years ago
already includes that P1.1 billion which they did not invest in the past. So tama lang they will pump it in because utang nila ‘yan sa consumers. In fact,
they have to spend that in 10 weeks, not 10 years,” said MEPC president Roel
Castro.
Castro pointed out that even the Court of Appeals, in its ruling denying PECO’s bid to stop expropriation proceedings, had recognized that MORE Power is now Iloilo’s sole DU charged with ensuring and maintaining stable electricity supply for the city’s 65,000 households and businesses.
He also pointed out that
franchise-less PECO’s announcement would have been appreciated better by Iloilo
consumers and the two chambers of Congress had it invested the money 10 years
ago.
Castro said PECO’s announcement serves merely as a public relations stunt in a
desperate bid to undo Congress’ decision to grant the electricity distribution
franchise to another company because of numerous complaints by thousands of
consumers and its failure to modernize its facilities despite its stockholders
– led by the Cacho clan for the past 95 years and the Lopez-owned First
Philippines Holdings Corp. – declaring hundreds of millions of pesos in
dividends every year.
“Had PECO spent that amount 10 years ago, the Iloilo City Council would not have passed a resolution asking Congress to find a new distribution utility to manage the city’s electricity distribution system and the Senate and the House of Representatives would have renewed its franchise that expired this year. Instead Congress granted the franchise to MORE Power and President Rodrigo Duterte signed it into law,” Castro pointed out.
He also noted that PECO’s media announcement was curiously held in Taguig City instead of in Iloilo City where its former customers should be hearing it, instead of a grand event again using its profits from Ilonggos who kept up with PECO’s inefficient and unfriendly services for 95 years.
MORE is spending close to P1.7 billion in the next three years to modernize the electricity distribution facilities in Iloilo City following its securing of the DU franchise from Congress in December last year.
It has sought to expropriate all the ageing distribution network of PECO in Iloilo after President Duterte signed its franchise into law as Republic Act No. 11212, which authorized MORE to take over all and any facility and property it needs to ensure Iloilo City and nearby municipalities have continuous and assured supply of electricity.
But PECO sought court action outside Iloilo to stop it on grounds that the act was unconstitutional and deprived it of its economic rights.
MORE had secured the expropriation order from the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court in line with the provisions of RA 11212 and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Castro said./PN
