NOTHING would please the electricity consumers in Iloilo City than to see Panay Electric Co. (PECO) and MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) collaborate in upholding the law (Republic Act 11212) turning over the power-distribution franchise from the former to the latter.
“Let the court decide,” Mayor Jerry Treñas has repeatedly said.
Judge Emerald Requina-Contreras of the lloilo Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 did just that on Friday when ordered the court sheriffs to serve a writ of possession to PECO aimed at turning over the distribution utility to MORE Power “to ensure the uninterrupted supply of electricity.”
It was indeed her “ministerial duty” in consonance with an earlier decision of another judge – Yvette Go of Branch 37 – approving MORE Power’s application for that writ because “it is vested with public interest.”
To quote Section 23 of the “Electric Power Industry Reform Act” (RA 9136), “Distribution utilities may exercise the power of eminent domain subject to the requirements of the Constitution and existing laws.”
As a result, MORE has absorbed scores of PECO’s personnel and will continue to do so as the need arises.
The transition from PECO to MORE Power could have been as easy as “ABC” had both companies recognized the expiration of the former’s franchise on Jan. 19, 2019, and the grant of the new franchise to the latter by the Congress of the Philippines.
RA 11212 – as passed by Congress on Dec. 11, 2018 and approved by President Rodrigo Duterte on Feb. 14, 2019 – awarded to MORE Power the new 25-year franchise to convey electric power to the end-users in Iloilo City.
It is unfortunate that PECO, despite the loss of its franchise, opted to bar what could have been a smooth turnover through legal maneuvers questioning the constitutionality of the law.
But as Judge Contreras reiterated in her order, “RA 11212 continues to be operative under the doctrine of presumption of constitutionality of the laws.”
Two provisions of RA 11212 are vital in effecting a smooth PECO-to-MORE transition through the “right of eminent domain,” which is “the power of the state to forcibly take private property for public use upon payment of just compensation.”
First, there’s Section 10 of RA 11212: “The grantee may acquire such private property as is actually necessary for the realization of the purposes for which this franchise is granted, including but not limited to poles, wires, cables, transformers… Provided, that proper expropriation proceedings shall have been instituted and just compensation paid.”
Second, Section 17 specifies, “Panay Electric Co. (PECO) shall in the interim be authorized to operate the existing distribution system within the franchise area… until the establishment or acquisition by the grantee of its own distribution system and its complete transition towards full operations as determined by the ERC.”
Instead of heeding the law, however, PECO countered, citing Article 3, Section 1, of the Philippine Constitution: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”
But Section 9 of the same Article clarifies, “Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation.” Otherwise, its franchise having expired, PECO would gain nothing.
On the other hand, PECO stands to gain P481,842,450, which is the “just compensation” that MORE Power has escrowed at Landbank. The final amount, however, has yet to be determined by the court, or probably and preferably agreed upon by both parties in a cool venue. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
