Arroyo allies in House mull filing class suit vs Meralco
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 14:29:00 05/14/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s allies at the House of Representatives are considering filing a class suit against the Manila Electric Co (Meralco) for passing on to consumers its own power consumption.
Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga, member of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Partner of the Free Filipino, Kampi), disclosed this Wednesday, a day after the House committee on energy headed by the President’s son, Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo, conducted a hearing on the rising cost of electricity in the country.
“We are contemplating if other congressmen will be joining me in filing class suit against Meralco,” Barzaga said at a weekly forum in Quezon City.
“We anticipate, with this dynamic society and with so many cause-oriented groups not to mention that there are also dedicated congressmen and public officials who are similarly situated as the other four million electric consumers, the possibility of having a case in the next few days will not be a far-fetched conclusion,” he said.
One basis for filing the case, Barzaga said, would be Meralco’s practice of charging consumers the electricity it had been using for its own operations.
But in a phone interview, Barzaga clarified that the filing of a case against Meralco was an emerging consensus among some congressmen as they have yet to finalize it.
“Based on our investigation, perhaps it’s about time that we take the cudgel in behalf of the consumers,” he said.
During the Senate inquiry on the same issue Monday, an official of Meralco admitted that they also passed on to consumers some 76 million per kilowatt hour amounting to almost P500 million annually.
“I anticipate that with this new disclosure and which was admitted by Meralco, I will not be surprised if in the coming days there would be a court suit, na merong mga group na magpa-file ng asunto [that there would be groups that would file a case] to recover from Meralco on behalf of the consumers, itong [this] system loss representing the electric consumption of Meralco,” Barzaga said.
Manila Representative Amado Bagatsing, another KAMPI member, said he would support such a move if his colleagues would push through with its plan.
But Bacolod Representative Monico Puentevella, another administration ally, said he would like to first give Meralco, the National Power Commission, and the Energy Regulatory Commission time to work on how they could lower power rates before taking drastic moves.
Instead of spending weeks attending congressional hearings, Puentevella said the three groups should sit down and come up within 48 hours a statement on how they could solve the problem.
“They have to get their acts together or else, they will have to face the music,” Puentevella said in a separate phone interview.
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