TWO non-government organizations filed on Thursday graft raps against officials of the Energy Regulatory Commission before the Office of the Ombudsman over the suspension of a competitive selection process in the procurement of power supply.
Sanlakas and Freedom from Debt Coalition represented by lawyer-secretary general Aaron Pedrosa and secretary general Samuel Cesar Gamboa, respectively, along with a journalist, Heidi Nicodemus, sued Commissioners Josefina Patricia Magpale Asirit, Alfredo Non, Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc and Geronimo Sta. Ana.
They accused the energy officials of entering into a supposed “sweetheart” deal with the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), saying this caused undue injury to the public by giving the power firm unwarranted benefits over the suspension of the competitive selection process.
Based on the compalint, Asirit and Taruc “strangely” revisited a previous resolution of former energy secretary Jericho Petilla requiring the conduct of the competitive selection process.
In April 2016, the ERC officials suspended the process in the “guise of a period of transition.” But the complainants believed the ERC gave favored treatment to Meralco to enable the company to bag power supply agreements with seven coal-filled power plants to supply 3,551 megawatts or 31 billion kilowatt per hour at full capacity.
The contracts would run for a minimum term of 20 years from the time of commissioning.
“The special accommodation accorded by the respondents to Meralco effectively led to the sidestepping of the CSP requirement. The absence of any competitive selection process in the Meralco’s above-mentioned power supply agreements effectively deprived the public of lower electricity rates for 20 long years since the prices for the supply of electricity were not determined through a competitive bidding where several generation companies would drive down the prices to win the contract,” the complaint read.
Butch Junia of the People for Power said the contract would run for a minimum term of 20 years from the time of commissioning. “The process by which Meralco has filed its applications is tainted with many irregularities,” he said.