Melvin Matibag, the president of the National Transmission Corporation was kicked out of a Senate hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Energy for 2022.
Senator Manny Pacquiao was asking Matibag on the involvement of the DOE with the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), a private company, where Matibag’s wife is reportedly one of the incorporators.
Pacquiao then claimed the DOE had given IEMOP the authority to be an “independent electricity stock market operator” which Pacquiao claimed seems to be anomalous, since IEMOP did not the requirements set by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001
Matibag then talked back at Pacquiao calling the inquiry a “political hearing” and said “let’s not pretend to be clean and untainted here,” while Pacquiao was still in the process of presenting his allegations.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, presiding over the hearing then ordered the removal of Matibag in the virtual meeting.
Gatchalian, quoted by a GMA News report, castigated Matibag and said Matibag “have no right of calling this a political hearing. You are out of order. You are no longer recognized.”
Gatchalian also said Matibag “insulted” the Senate committee by calling the inquiries “a political hearing.”
Pacquiao also offered an apology after the ruckus and called Matibag “disrespectful” and “acted like he is not a lawyer.”
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who was also in the meeting, apologized for Matibag’s behavior.
Aside from Matibag, Pacquiao also accused Cusi of tolerating the anomalous scheme of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) that caused a spike in the price of electricity.
During the Senate budget hearing Pacquiao cited that the DOE has the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation and Philippine Electricity Market Corporation which are both under the operation and management of WESM.
“We are aware of the continuing problem on electric supply. While Secretary Cusi has been busy on politicking, power outages have been frequent in all parts of the country,” said Pacquiao.
Pacquiao said “running the electricity spot market has been turned into a racket of relatives, friends and allies.”.
He divulged that one of the modus operandi is to establish a new company. The new company, despite having only a small capital and with no experience and capability, then gets a contract from the government worth billions of pesos.
Due to this, electricity consumers are paying .0086 centavos for every kilowatt hour or about P1.70 per 200-kilowatt hour.
“If we are to compute this, the hidden charges and illegal collections each month will reach P34 million,” he said. Macon Ramos-Araneta
Pacquiao said the act of Cusi violated the EPIRA Law since the law requires that the independent market operator must be “financially and technically capable, with proven experience and expertise of not less tow (2) years as a leading independent market operator of the similar or larger size electricity market.”
But Cusi maintained the EPIRA Law was followed and there was no violation of the law.
Matibag in a statement meanwhile apologized for the ruckus and said he “lament what has transpired today where I was declared out of order and removed” from the Senate inquiry.
“I apologize to the public for my temperament but it was brought about by my indignation from what I considered as an unfair hearing. I truly respect the Senate of the Philippines as an institution,” he said.
Matibag however said it is clear “that Senator Manny Pacquiao is exploiting the Senate Budget Hearing to retaliate against me for his ouster in PDP LABAN where he was forced to use an inconsequential and an inactive political party in PROMDI for his presidential ambition.”