Iloilo power firm looks at SC to reverse RTC takeover ruling

ILOILO CITY — The Panay Electric Company (Peco) has pinned its hope on the Supreme Court to regain control of Iloilo City’s power distribution system expropriated by a company owned by business tycoon Enrique Razon Jr.

“Our main fight is really with the Supreme Court,” lawyer Estrella Elamparo, Peco’s legal counsel, told the INQUIRER.

Elamparo was reacting to an Iloilo City Regional Trial Court (RTC) resolution that affirmed the validity of the takeover of its distribution assets by its rival More Electric and Power Corp. (More Power).

In a resolution dated July 2, Judge Emerald Requina-Contreras of RTC Branch 23 in Iloilo, denied Peco’s motion for reconsideration on an order she issued last April 16.

The judge said she had already cited the reasons in her earlier order why she could not mandate the court sheriff to implement a February 28 addendum.

The addendum, which she issued following the issuance of a writ of possession covering distribution of Peco assets, stated that upon installation, More Power “may deploy their personnel to man and oversee the substations…but the operation should still be handled by Peco personnel who have the technical expertise.”

In dismissing Peco’s motion for reconsideration, Contreras reiterated that the company has no more franchise to operate the distribution system and has no Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), while More Power has both the franchise and the provisional CPCN.

Peco failed to have its franchise, which expired on Jan. 19, 2019, renewed. Congress, however, granted a 25-year franchise to More Power to distribute electricity in Iloilo City.

President Duterte signed Republic Act 11212 on February 14, 2019, which granted More Power a franchise as well as expropriation rights on Peco’s power distribution assets.

The Mandaluyong RTC, in July last year, declared Section 10 (right of eminent domain) and Section 17 (transition of operations) of Republic Act 11212 as void and unconstitutional for infringing on Peco’s rights to due process and equal protection of the law.

More Power filed a pending petition for review on certiorari before the High Court questioning the Mandaluyong RTC ruling.

In a seven-page motion and manifestation to resolve dated July 13, Peco through its legal counsels, asked the high court to immediately resolve the case and deny the petition for review filed by More Power.

“We are hopeful that the expropriation will be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court,” Elamparo said.

More Power has been facing complaints from consumers on repeated and prolonged brownouts with many residents ranting in social media against unscheduled power interruptions , which have reached up to 11 hours.

Aside from the unscheduled power interruptions, More Power has been implementing 13-hour brownouts in areas in the city which they said are part of the rehabilitation and upgrading of facilities and distribution lines.

More Power President Roel Castro has blamed the “dilapidated” facilities that it took over from Peco.

In an earlier interview, he said they also suspect that some of the distribution lines or transformers could have been tampered with but admitted that there was still no proof that their system was sabotaged.

But Peco refuted Castro’s explanation blaming the outages on “incompetence” of the new power distribution firm.

“Tens of thousands of households have been affected by outages since (More Power) took over in February,” Marcel Cacho, Peco public engagement and government affairs head, said.

Cacho said the outages “could have been prevented or at least reduced if those at (More Power) knew what they are doing.”

LZB