THE SEEMINGLY endless “power struggle” has ended with a lady judge’s decision to uphold the law (RA 11212) awarding the power-distribution franchise to MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) through expropriation of facilities of Panay Electric Co. (PECO).
Hat’s off to Judge Emerald Requina-Contreras of the lloilo Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 for issuing a writ of possession “to protect the public interest of the people of Iloilo City and its businesses, and to ensure the uninterrupted supply of electricity.”
The court sheriffs served the writ on Friday (Feb. 28, 2020), paving the way for MORE personnel to take over the distribution utility.
MORE has already absorbed some of PECO’s personnel and will continue to do so as the need arises.
Judge Contreras called it her “ministerial duty” to issue the writ of possession that had previously been approved by Judge Yvette Go (RTC–Iloilo Branch 37).
Republic Act (RA) 11212 — as passed by Congress on December 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 worth noting that the House’s committee on legislative franchises had by then junked PECO’s application for franchise renewal due to mounting consumers’ complaints about overbilling, non-refund of deposits, power pilferage, leaning old poles, fire-hazardous “spaghetti” wirings and poor public relations, among others.
Despite the expiration of its franchise on Jan. 19, 2019, PECO tried to hold on with a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), pending resolution of the expropriation case filed by MORE Power.
PECO questioned the constitutionality of the expropriation process despite its validity under the “Electric Power Industry Reform Act” (EPIRA) of 2001, Section 23 of which provides:
“Distribution utilities may exercise the power of eminent domain [the power to expropriate] subject to the requirements of the constitution and existing laws.”
While the Supreme Court has yet to rule on a pending petition to review the RTC-Mandaluyong’s decision declaring two sections of R.A. 11212 unconstitutional, it has already restrained that RTC from implementing it.
And so Judge Contreras wrote, “RA 11212 continues to be operative under the doctrine of presumption of constitutionality of the laws.”
A long delay in the law’s implementation could be disastrous. With no more franchise to stand on, PECO could not and would not put up additional capital expenditure. Its outdated power lines, feeders, transformers and lamp posts would therefore rot away.
PECO had attempted to regain public sympathy by assailing the “confiscatory” expropriation process. Shouldn’t the franchise law have required MORE Power to acquire its own distribution network?
Unfortunately, if there were such a requirement in RA 11212, then it could be worse than “confiscatory” because PECO would gain not a single centavo from its junked power-distribution equipment.
But as specified in the last portion of Section 10 of RA 11212, MORE Power would have to pay PECO “just compensation” for its distribution assets.
These assets have been enumerated in the writ of possession based on PECO’s tax declaration and records submitted to the court by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ERC.
MORE Power has already escrowed in a bank P481,842,450 for “just compensation”. It remains for the court to validate its sufficiency.
MORE Power president Roel Castro told us that they are prepared to spend much more to “modernize” by way of gradual replacement of all power-distribution equipment.
As Mayor Jerry Treñas is wont to say, “Level up!” (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
