Plaintiffs in fraud case seek hold order vs Meralco execs
By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:10:00 09/08/2008
Filed Under: Crime, Law & Justice
MANILA, Philippines -- A consumers’ group that filed a fraud complaint against officers of the Manila Electric Co. has asked the Pasig trial court hearing the case to issue a hold departure order against the accused executives.
In its motion filed with the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 71., the National Association of Electricity Consumer for Reforms (Nasecore) told the court it is important that the accused Meralco officers not be allowed to leave the country since syndicated estafa (fraud) is a non-bailable offense.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) filed the case against Meralco chairman and chief executive officer Manuel Lopez; executive vice president and chief financial officer Daniel Tagaza; first vice president and treasurer Rafael Andrada; vice president and corporate auditor and compliance officer Helen De Guzman; vice president and assistant comptroller Antonio Valera; and senior assistant vice president and assistant treasurer Manolo Fernando;
Also charged are Meralco 2006 directors Arthur Defensor Jr., Gregory Domingo, Octavio Victor Espiritu, Christian Monsod, Federico Puno, Washington Sycip, Emilio Vicens, Francisco Viray and Cesar Virata. Viray's term ended June 2, 2006.
The case stemmed from an Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ruling that a 10-percent meter and bill deposit collected from Meralco consumers should be returned.
The P21-billion supposed to be returned was to be held in trust as the ERC drew up a plan to implement the refunds.
However, Nasecore accused Meralco of allotting only six percent for the refunds and reclassifying the remaining four percent as "interest and other incomes." This, said the group, was a clear misappropriation of the funds.
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