ILOILO City – Panay Electric Co. (PECO) has made true its vow to exhaust all available legal remedies to protect its interest. It has asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) or writ of preliminary injunction against More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) and all government agencies tasked to implement Republic Act (RA) 11212 which is MORE Power’s franchise law.
PECO, whose power distribution franchise expired on Jan. 19, 2019, filed a petition for declaratory relief at the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Branch 209 on March 6.
It included in its petition the Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), among others.
The MORE Power management could not be reached for comment as of this writing.
PECO, the sole power distributor in this city for the past 95 years, specifically asked the court for the following:
* a TRO and/or writ of preliminary injunction enjoining respondents and/or any of their representatives from enforcing, implementing and exercising any rights and obligations set forth under RA 11212, including but not limited to: (a) commencement of expropriation proceedings; (b) takeover by MORE Power of PECO’s distribution assets; and (c) issuance by DOE/ERC of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), provisional authority to operate or any other permits or licenses for the operation of MORE Power in Iloilo City, or if one had already been issued, to suspend the same pending the resolution of the case
* declare sections 10 (Right of Eminent Domain) and 17 (Transition of Operations) of RA 11212 as invalid and/or unconstitutional
President Rodrigo Duterte signed RA 11212 on Feb. 14, 2019 effectively giving Iloilo City a new power distribution franchisee.
In recent years, PECO faced mounting criticism from dissatisfied consumers complaining of erroneous billing, poor customer service and high rates, among others.
PECO, however, told the court it has no obligation to sell its assets to MORE Power, and neither has MORE Power the right to expropriate PECO’s assets under sections 10 and 17 of RA 11212.
It also insisted its rights to its property are protected against any arbitrary and confiscatory undertaking.
PECO said RA 11212’s sections 10 and 17 infringe on its right to due process and equal protection of the law.
The delegated eminent domain authority granted to MORE Power “all but hostages” PECO to turn over its assets and business to the new power distribution franchisee, it lamented.
“While the grant of such power to a franchisee is not unusual, the targeting of PECO’s specific assets makes such grant of power constitutionally infirm,” read part of PECO’s petition.
It said this amounts to “a confiscation of property that may not be exercised by the State nor delegated to a private person in blatant disregard of the constitutionally protected property rights of another.”
PECO also noted in its petition the apparent haste in the granting of the franchise to MORE Power – filed in the Aug. 22, 2018 and approved by the House on Oct. 8, 2018, then the Senate in November 2018.
PECO, on the other hand, failed to renew its expired franchise. Its application, submitted in 2017 yet, remains stuck in the Lower House’s committee on legislative franchises.
PECO was established in 1923 and has been serving the consumers of Iloilo City continuously.
It has five sub-transmission line substations in as many districts: in Barangay Baldoza, La Paz; Barangay Tabuc Suba, Jaro; Barangay Bolilao, Mandurriao; Barangay Avanceña, Molo;, and General Luna Street, City Proper.
“PECO is more qualified than MORE to be granted a legislative franchise under the Prior Operator Rule. The continuation of its operations will serve public interest as its operations are reliable, consistent and cost-effective,” said PECO legal counsel Inocencio Ferrer Jr./PN
