FOLKS, it would be best to ignore the childish antics and tantrums you see. At best they’re just sourgraping.
After all, we are in the Philippines where nobody loses on anything – from elections to basketball and beauty contests. If they lose the election, they were cheated; in basketball, it’s the referees’ fault; in beauty contests, they just can’t accept the fact that the other contestant is prettier and better than them.
When Manny Pacquiao lost a boxing match, they all demanded a Senate investigation, as if that will amount to anything.
People can’t seem to accept the fact that in life there’s always a winner and a loser; only this time you are the loser and whatever it was you still lost. Life is never fair.
Such is the case of Panay Electric Co. or PECO. Its franchise expired last Jan. 19, 2019 and it failed to have it renewed. Congress awarded the franchise as sole power provider of “I Am Iloilo City” to MORE Electric and Power Corp. or MORE Power by virtue of Republic Act (RA) 11212 duly approved and signed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
PECO just cannot accept the fact that it lost its franchise after almost 100 years of profitable existence as the sole power provider of “I Am Iloilo City” and did all sorts of delaying tactics to prevent the inevitable from happening.
Well, the inevitable did happen despite the childish antics and tantrums of PECO. It has now resorted to sowing confusion among the natives, particularly in mainstream and social media.
As it is, the facts now show that PECO does not have any legal leg to stand on as its franchise already expired. All it has now is amor propio, a sense of entitlement and the mistaken notion that a franchise is a right when the whole world knows it is not; it is a privilege that can only be granted by law.
While the odds are stacked in the favor of MORE Power as it is armed with a franchise as sole power provider of “I Am Iloilo City” courtesy of Congress via RA 11212 duly approved and signed by President Rodrigo Duterte and a Writ of Possession issued by the Regional Trial Court, Branch 23.
And lately, as a coup de grâce, the Energy Regulatory Commission or ERC cancelled the provisional Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) of PECO and then granted one to MORE Power.
Excerpts from the March 16, 2020 issue of Panay News:
ALL SYSTEMS GO
MORE Power: CPCN ensures uninterrupted service
Residential, commercial and industrial power users in this southern city can start enjoying the services of new power distribution utility MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) and no longer that of Panay Electric Co. (PECO), according to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
In a clear blow to the old power distribution utility’s efforts to stall its eventual demise, ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera said it’s all systems go for MORE Power, pointing out the issuance of a provisional Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to the company.
In granting MORE Power the CPCN, ERC also cancelled the provisional CPCN it issued to PECO after the expiry of the latter’s franchise last Jan. 18, 2019.
With the ERC’s issuance of a Provisional Authority to MORE Power, it is clear that the latter is now the bona fide and legitimate distribution utility in Iloilo City,” Devanadera said.
MORE Power is “authorized to implement the last approved distribution charges for the Iloilo consumers,” added Devanadera, which means it is the company that should collect the monthly electricity bill of Ilonggos starting on the effectivity of the provisional CPCN.
“The Commission issued the Provisional Authority to protect consumers’ interest by ensuring uninterrupted electric service to consumers in Iloilo City and prevent chaos and confusion among customers as to who is authorized to operate the distribution system in the area,” said Devanadera.
I suppose that’s clear enough and anybody in their right mind would know that PECO is out and MORE Power has taken over, and anything coming from PECO is just sourgraping and sowing confusion.
It must be painful to wake up every morning turning on the lights in the bathroom then suddenly realizing that it is no longer your PECO that controls the power in your bathroom lights and the rest of your house but MORE Power.
Accept the fact that PECO has worn out its welcome and the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” have spoken…100 years is enough. Never again. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
