LAWYERS I have talked to have not encountered a case where a litigant openly disobeyed a law and profited from it.
It’s only now, with Panay Electric Co. (PECO) disobeying a Republic Act (RA 11212) and questioning its constitutionality, that such a phenomenon has reared its ugly head.
RA 11212, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on Feb. 14, 2019, awarded to MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) a 25-year franchise to distribute electricity in Iloilo City, succeeding PECO whose franchise expired as of January 19, 2019.
Congress had junked PECO’s application for renewal in response to massive outcry from consumers complaining of overbilling, overcharging, wrong electric meter reading, hazardous old posts, spaghetti wirings, other substandard facilities and poor public relations.
RA 11212 could have paved the way for a mutually beneficial transition from the old to the new franchisee, with both parties benefiting under Section 17: “Panay Electric Co. (PECO) shall in the interim be authorized to operate the existing distribution system within the franchise area…”
The authors of the law alluded to “expropriation” of the power-distribution system as the practical means of “acquisition” – according to Section 10 — that would earn PECO “just compensation” from MORE Power.
Expropriation would entail court proceedings that would determine whether the offered compensation of P481,842,450 would be fair.
And so MORE proceeded to file the expropriation case sometime in March 2019 before RTC-Iloilo.
The “power change” was not meant to unfold as envisioned by law, however, with the unexpected move of PECO questioning the constitutionality of the above-mentioned provisions of the law before the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 209.
A lower court nullifying a duly-passed law sounded out of tune – more likely a ploy to delay the expropriation. The expired franchisee would earn millions of pesos more from 64,000 households per day of delay.
To make the long story short, it has taken three judges at Iloilo RTC – Yvette Go and Victor Gelvezon of Branch 37 and Daniel Amular of Branch 35 – to hear the expropriation case.
Judge Go granted MORE Power’s application for the issuance of a writ of possession in its bid to take over the power-distribution system, since the case involves a basic necessity vested with public interest.
“This Court finds the Complaint for Expropriation sufficient in form and substance,” she ruled. “In expropriation cases, the sufficiency in form and substance of the complaint is to be determined by mere examination of the allegations of the complaint.”
But she inhibited herself from enforcing the writ. And so the case was re-raffled. It fell in the hands of Judge Daniel Antonio Gerardo Amular to determine the “just compensation” MORE was offering PECO. He sought the assistance of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for that purpose, only to suspend the proceedings with a suggestion that the case be transferred to a court outside Iloilo City because it had become “politicized”.
However, the Supreme Court has already thumbed down the transfer also sought for by PECO and has restrained the Mandaluyong RTC from implementing its decision declaring the expropriation “unconstitutional.”
In effect, Amular sat on the writ of possession issued Judge Yvette Go that would have kicked off the transition from the former to the present power-distribution utility.
But it would no longer be proper for Amular to turn around, since MORE Power president Roel Castro and counsel Hector Teodosio had already sought his removal before the Supreme Court for grave misconduct, gross ignorance of the law and violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
We can only hope for a peaceful solution to his legal problem.
The best move for PECO now is to let go and let the law take its course. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
I don’t think you understand the complexity of this legal matter Mr. Vego. You are sounding like a broken record already. Leave it to the Supreme Court to decide. Actually it is better if we have two power suppliers in Iloilo so we consumers can choose who we want. The judge is deciding based on the confines of the law while More is apparently doing all sorts of circus tricks to discredit the judge. At the end of the day, you can choose to go back to using the “kingki” if wannabe, untried and unproven More becomes the power distributor in Iloilo City.