Mandaluyong RTC stops Razon electric firm from taking over Panay power firm’s assets

ILOILO CITY –– The Regional Trial Court Branch 209 in Mandaluyong City has issued a permanent injunction stopping the expropriation of distribution assets of the Panay Electric Company (Peco) by More Electric Power Company, a firm controlled by billionaire Enrique Razon Jr.

In an eight-page order, Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio declared the provisions of the franchise granted to More Power to distribute electricity in Iloilo City as “void and unconstitutional for infringing on Peco’s rights to due process and equal protection of the law.”

Republic Act No. 11212 signed by President Duterte on February 14 granted a 25-year franchise to More Power as Iloilo City’s power distributor.

Peco’s franchise expired on Jan. 18, but the Energy Regulatory Commission has granted a provisional Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to Peco to continue distributing power in Iloilo City staving off disruption of power supply to consumers.