ILOILO City – In a landmark decision, the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 23 directed MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) to return the operations of substations and other power distribution utilities that it took over last week back to Panay Electric Co. (PECO).
Pending the release of MORE Power’s own Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Presiding Judge Emerald Requinto-Contreras ordered during a hearing yesterday to give back power distribution operations to PECO.
MORE Power should follow the RTC Branch 23-issued Addendum that states PECO personnel should be the ones to operate the power distribution facilities and MORE Power employees should only observe as part of their immersion into the service, stressed Contreras.
The presiding judge also said she is still not sure about the capability of MORE Power to operate the facilities and by returning the operations to PECO, the court is protecting consumers from the possibility of power outages.
“The decision of
the Iloilo RTC to direct MORE Power to give back power distribution operations
to PECO is a crucial development because it proves that everything we have been
saying in the past few weeks is true,” said Atty. Estrella Elamparo, PECO legal
counsel.
It was reported that MORE Power still has no standing Power Service Agreement
(PSA) and the company is still using PECO’s contracts in doing power
distribution, contrary to the claims of the untested power firm.
During yesterday’s
hearing, a huge swarm of PECO supporters overwhelmed the Hall of Justice and
were allowed to pray while the proceedings were ongoing.
In a related development, the ERC said it had revoked the CPCN of PECO.
PECO lawyers,
however, said this is not final since they have not received any such directive
yet.
“The order of the ERC regarding the alleged revocation of the PECO CPCN is not
yet final and, in fact, has not been officially received by PECO,” Elamparo
revealed. “Moreover, the order was premised on misrepresentations made by
MORE,” she added.
“We are hopeful that once we are able to apprise the ERC of the true situation
that’s happening on ground, ERC will not only reverse this order but would also
deny the outright the application of MORE Power for a CPCN,” said Elamparo.
Last week, MORE Power forcibly took over the substations of PECO on the
strength of a writ of possession issued by RTC Branch 23 and announced it had
full control of the facilities.
PECO contested the writ, stating it is illegal as there is a pending petition in the Supreme Court in relation to the constitutionality of MORE Power’s franchise and alluding to Contreras’ bias in the expropriation case.
PECO also claimed
that MORE Power has no CPCN, thus has no right to provide power distribution
services in Iloilo City despite holding a legislative franchise.
Also, MORE Power does not have any power distribution facility in Iloilo City
and does not have enough employees of its own to man the substations it took
over, according to PECO./PN
