ILOILO City – The Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 warned MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) and Panay Electric Co. (PECO) against resorting to “any form of propaganda” that would undermine the court’s integrity and credibility.
In an order issued yesterday, Presiding Judge Emerald Requina-Contreras chided the two power distributors for calling press conferences and making pronouncements on matters that were yet to be discussed by the court.
She ordered them to “strictly observe the gag order” issued by Judge Daniel Antonio Gerardo Amular of RTC Branch 35 who previously heard the expropriation case but eventually inhibited.
RTC Branch 23 is the court hearing the expropriation case filed by MORE Power, which has a 25-year power distribution franchise here, against PECO whose franchise expired on Jan. 19, 2019. Friday last week, the court issued a Writ of Possession for MORE Power to “exercise its possession and control of the (power) distribution facilities…”
Contreras, however, was displeased by the actions of both parties as there were many other matters that the court is yet to resolve. These were:
* transition period
* accounting
* turnover of records like the list of consumers
* documents relevant to the operation of the distribution system, among others
* inventory of personal properties under Category A
* inventory of real properties already under the possession of MORE Power
“MORE Power is therefore ordered to remove all the ads pertaining to its full operation pending the resolution of the foregoing,” Contreras’ order stated.
MORE Power already made announcements on broadcast and social media that it was now in full operation of the distribution facilities of Iloilo City eve if Contreras’ Addendum to the Writ of Possession clearly stated the following:
* MORE Power may deploy its personnel to man and oversee the substations to exercise its possession and control of the distribution facilities, but the operation should still be handled by PECO personnel who has the technical expertise
* maintain the status quo of the operation so as to give time for MORE Power to orient / train / immerse its personnel before it fully takes control of the operation
* see to it that no PECO personnel in the rank and file would be displaced during the transition period
On the other hand, according to Contreras, PECO’s legal counsel Estrella Elamparo “made malicious statements on air, of an alleged meeting with the judge of a certain MORE personality the day before the writ was served, alluding to the court’s conspiracy with the plaintiff.”
“Immune to this form of misbehavior of counsels whenever the judgment is adverse to their client, the undersigned is not dissuaded to further hear the case with utmost impartiality,” Contreras stressed.
While “the behavior of Atty. Elamparo will not be taken against PECO”, according to Contreras, “it will be dealt with by the court accordingly.”
She gave MORE Power and PECO three days beginning yesterday “to submit their respective timelines and to set things straight to appear before the court” on March 6, 8:30 a.m.
Armed with a Writ of Possession from RTC Branch 23, MORE Power took control of the power substations of PECO in the districts of La Paz, City Proper, Jaro, Mandurriao, and Molo on Feb. 28.
“We are now in full control of the five substations,” MORE Power president and chief executive officer Roel Castro then declared, “and we have competent and highly-skilled technical people manning the five substations.”
On the other hand, PECO’s Elamparo described as unprecedented, highly irregular and shocking MORE Power’s takeover of its client’s power distribution facilities. She cited the pending Supreme Court case on the constitutionality of MORE Power’s franchise and the standing order on the suspension of the expropriation proceedings against PECO issued by the previous judge hearing it, Amular.
“If there is standing suspension of proceedings, no order or action can be taken on the case unless and until the suspension is lifted,” said Elamparo.
Elamparo also lamented that PECO as party in the expropriation case was “kept in the dark” about the issuance of a Writ of Possession by RTC Branch 23.
On Feb. 14, 2019 President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law MORE Power’s franchise, Republic Act (RA) 11212.
In March 2019 MORE Power asked RTC Iloilo City Branch 37 to issue a writ of possession authorizing it to take immediate control, operation, use, and disposition of PECO’s power distribution system assets.
In seeking the expropriation of PECO’s assets, MORE Power cited Section 10 of RA 11212 and Rule 67 Section 2 of the Revised Rules of Court authorizing it to take possession of, exercise control over, and manage and operate all of the power distribution assets in Iloilo City./PN
