IN A previous column, this corner expressed the hope that Judge Gloria Madero would be the “final solution” to the interrupted expropriation proceedings aimed at turning over the power distribution system in Iloilo City from Panay Electric Co. (PECO) to MORE Electric and Power and Corp. (MORE Power).
I thought that so much delay synonymous to “justice denied” had needlessly hampered the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 11212, the franchise law providing for smooth transition from the old franchisee to the new.
I found out yesterday, however, that Judge Madero had already filed for her retirement as presiding judge of the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 29.
It turned out that in last Monday’s re-raffle, the expropriation case fell on Branch 23 under Judge Emerald Requina-Contreras – the sixth in an unexpected line of judges tasked to fulfill a ministerial task required by law, which is to issue a writ of possession.
It would already be unnecessary to comment on how the five earlier judges had missed issuing that writ that the first judge had already approved but failed to implement for whatever reason. Of more paramount importance to the people of Iloilo City is the urgency of implementing RA 11212, since further delay could outrage the Ilonggos against the literal dying of the light in brownouts.
PECO’s franchise expired on midnight between January 18 and 19 but was allowed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to continue through a temporary certificate of public convenience (CPCN) until such time as MORE Power would have completely acquired the distribution system.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed MORE Power’s franchise grant (RA 11212) on Valentine’s Day of February 14, 2019, which would turn one year tomorrow.
Under Section 10 of RA 11212, the new franchisee is mandated to exercise the “power of eminent domain,” which is defined as “the power of government to take, or to authorize the taking of, private property for public use without the owner’s consent, conditioned upon payment of just compensation.”
The same section requires MORE Power to pay PECO “just compensation”. In fact, MORE Power has escrowed P481,842,450 at Landbank for that purpose, based on PECO’s tax declaration.
And as specifically stated in Section 17 of RA 11212, “In the public interest and to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity, the current operator, Panay Electric Company, Inc. (PECO), shall in the interim be authorized to operate the existing distribution system within the franchise area.”
But instead of looking at these provisions as a collaborative and mutually beneficial transition, PECO opted to question its constitutionality before a Mandaluyong RTC. But that’s water under the bridge, the Supreme Court having restrained that RTC from implementing its decision siding with PECO.
We the people are not so concerned with legal jargon as with the harm that further delay in the implementation of the law could trigger. What would happen if RA 11212 remains suspended in midair?
Well, with no more franchise to lean on, PECO could not and certainly would not put up additional money for capital expenditure. Its power lines, feeders, transformers and lamp posts, among others, would therefore rot away slowly but surely.
PECO has amassed wealth from almost a century of power monopoly. But as to whether it has satisfied its 65,000 customers nowadays, its leaning lamp posts, “spaghetti” wirings and dangling “whatevers” echo the reasons why the 17th Congress junked its application for renewal of franchise and instead approved MORE Power’s maiden application.
Let the ball being played in Court sink to where it belongs. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
