The Court of Appeals (CA) ordered the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chair to inhibit herself from a rate application case involving the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), citing “evident bias and partiality.”
The CA ruled on April 30, 2025 that ERC chair Monalisa Dimalanta “should have recused herself” from proceedings related to NGCP’s 4th Regulatory Period (RP) reset application. The decision came after NGCP filed a petition for certiorari.
“We find that respondent gravely abused her discretion when she refused to inhibit from the proceedings a quo despite her evident bias and partiality against the petitioner,” the court’s decision stated.
NGCP sought the court’s intervention after the ERC failed to act on nine motions for reconsideration and motions to resolve filed by the grid operator in 2023.
NGCP alleged that Dimalanta had made a series of public statements demonstrating she had prejudged its 4th RP Reset Application even before it was officially filed. News articles had cited Dimalanta suggesting NGCP rates were expected to decrease.
NGCP contended that Dimalanta’s declarations indicated a “preconceived result in mind, that is, the reduction of transmission charges,” and that the ERC’s inaction on its motions displayed bias and prejudice.
The CA acknowledged that Dimalanta was aware NGCP had not yet filed its application when she made the public statements, which the court said proved she had already prejudged the outcome.
“Respondent could not be expected to render a fair judgment when she already has an outcome in mind… By issuing premature public statements, respondent somehow deprived petitioner of its right to a fair and impartial administrative process,” the decision read.
The ERC issued rules in September 2022 requiring NGCP to submit its expenditures for the 4th RP Reset, covering the years 2016 to 2022. Dimalanta held a press briefing in October 2022 on the expected results of the reset process, two months before NGCP filed its application in December 2022.