THE managers of Panay Electric Co. (PECO) have belatedly made two desperate, hasty moves aimed at regaining its franchise to distribute electricity in Iloilo City, which is now in the possession of MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) as mandated by law (Republic Act 11212).
First, they prevailed upon Abang Lingkod party-list congressman Joseph Stephen Paduano – a confirmed former leader of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army – Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB) – to sponsor House Bill 04101 proposing that PECO’s application for a new franchise be approved.
It’s surprising that power consumers and even we in the media were kept guessing what they would do next. It was only yesterday that we learned that the aforesaid application had been set for hearing tomorrow morning (Sept. 11) by the House Committee on Legislative Franchise, chaired by Cong. Franz Alvarez of Palawan.
Since Alvarez was also chair of that committee in the previous 17th Congress that junked PECO’s similar application for franchise and granted it instead to applicant MORE Power, what makes PECO confident that the ball would be in its court this time?
The most deafening reason why the 17th Congress junked PECO’s application was the deluge of written complaints from customers charging the company with overbillings, unbridled line disconnections, non-refund of bill deposits, poor public relations and hazardous power lines.
A group called “No to PECO Franchise” had lobbied before the House of Representatives to substantiate those complaints.
Incidentally, Congresswoman Julienne ”Jam-jam” Baronda (Iloilo City) is a member of the present Committee on Legislative Franchise. But when asked whether she would support Paduano’s bill, she texted this writer, “Nope, we have our own minds.”
Nevertheless, is PECO banking on the belief that the Supreme Court would sustain a regional trial court’s (RTC-Mandaluyong) decision declaring the franchise grant under RA 11212 “unconstitutional”? That would be like positioning the cart ahead of the horse.
Another PECO illusion as published in a neighboring column (Lapsus Calami) yesterday is that a second franchisee for Iloilo City may be allowed.
“It’s possible,” said PECO president Roel Z. Castro. Lest he be taken out of context, Castro does not agree with that belief; he meant that PECO was possibly thinking that two franchisees could be allowed to coexist.
Republic Act No. 9136 or “Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001,” however, assigns only one power utility to each territory through a legislative franchise.
The fact remains that it’s MORE Power that is waiting for the decision of the Regional Trial Court (RTC Branch 35) to enforce a writ of possession of PECO’s distribution system as provided by the franchise law.
Mayor Jerry Treñas has made it clear that he would try to reconcile PECO and MORE Power officials once the RTC would have enforced the writ.
Contrary to its allegation, PECO would lose nothing from its expropriation. By its own declaration, the company’s assets are worth P481,842,450. This is the amount that MORE Power is willing to pay PECO in the expropriation process.
As stated by Section 10 of RA 11212, to quote it again, “The grantee may acquire such private property as is actually necessary for the realization of the purposes for which this franchise is granted, including but not limited to poles, wires, cables, transformers… Provided, that proper expropriation proceedings shall have been instituted and just compensation paid.”
Moreover, Section 17 authorizes PECO “to operate the existing distribution system within the franchise area” until the acquisition by the grantee of its distribution system.”
Please, PECO, please be reasonable. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
