ILOILO City – Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 35’s Judge Daniel Antonio Gerardo Amular reprimanded both Panay Electric Co. (PECO) and MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) for issuing statements related to their expropriation case.
During yesterday’s hearing, Amular told the two parties to respect the court’s gag order and not make him a “watchdog” of their behavior.
Amular issued the reprimand after MORE Power’s Atty. Hector Teodosio questioned in court the statements of PECO administrative manager Marcelo Cacho relative to the expropriation case when he was interviewed by the media on Tuesday regarding recent Supreme Court resolutions.
The SC denied the petition for a temporary restraining order filed by MORE Power against the decision of the RTC in Mandaluyong City which declared two provisions of Republic Act 11212 (MORE Power’s franchise law) unconstitutional.
Teodosio recalled that Amular previously reprimanded MORE Power president Roel Castro for granting media interviews related to the expropriation case.
Amular’s gag order issued on Aug. 20 covered the two rival power distributors, their counsels and persons acting in their behalf “to avoid any improper conduct tending directly or indirectly to impede, obstruct or degrade the administration of justice.”
The goal of the gag order, according to Amular, was to insulate the court from extraneous influence.
MORE Power, which has a 25-year power distribution franchise for this city, seeks to take over the power distribution assets of PECO whose franchise expired on Jan. 19, 2019.
Today Amular will meet both PECO and MORE Power corporate officers minus their respective legal counsels for a chamber meeting.
He assured the two parties yesterday he would carefully study the case and asked them to respect whatever decision he would make for the sake of the people of the city.
In July, Mandaluyong RTC Branch 209 ruled that sections 10 (Right of Eminent Domain) and 17 (Transition of Operations) of Republic Act 11212 were “void and unconstitutional for infringing on PECO’s rights to due process and equal protection of the law.”
Also yesterday, a representative of the Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) submitted a list of PECO’s assets which were part of the company’s power distribution system. RTC-Iloilo Branch 35 requested for it.
ERC’s Atty. Arjay Louie Cuanan said, “We submit it to the court so it could be guided… for purposes of expropriation.”/PN
