Gatchalian defends Malampaya report after Duterte ‘antics’ quip

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Saturday defended the Senate recommendation to file administrative and criminal charges against Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and several other officials over the controversial Malayampaya deal, following President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement expressing his continued trust in Cusi and questioning the motive behind the chamber’s move.

Gatchalian said the Senate committee on energy, which he chairs, spent about a year studying the Malampaya deal, held four hearings that gave all parties, including Cusi, the opportunity to air their side, and exhaustively pored over the evidence gathered.

“This was not a simple hearing or looking at evidence. The report itself, including the annexes, is about 500 pages, which we hope people who are interested in the issue will take time to read so they will know the truth,” he said.

Duterte: ‘Grossly unfair’

Gatchalian was reacting mainly to criticism coming from Mr. Duterte and Cusi on the Senate recommendation to press charges against Cusi and 11 other Department of Energy (DOE) officials involved in the approval of the sale of the 45-percent stake of Chevron Malampaya LLC in the operations of the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project.

In a statement on Friday, the President defended Cusi against the committee report’s allegations that the DOE chief and the others favored Udenna Corp. (UC) Malampaya. He called the findings “grossly unfair to them (DOE officials) and the public.”

“This casts undue, undeserved, and unwarranted aspersions on the part of some of our key government officials,” the President said.

Mr. Duterte maintained that the transaction that involved a company owned by Dennis Uy, one of the biggest contributors to his 2016 presidential campaign, was “aboveboard,” and that he was convinced that the sale of Chevron’s stocks to UC Malampaya was a private transaction that must be respected.

‘Grave concern’

He expressed “grave concern” over “an apparent attempt at the Senate to put in bad light” the sale of the Malampaya shares.

The Senate on Wednesday passed a resolution recommending that the Ombudsman and Civil Service Commission file graft and administrative charges against Cusi and the others.

Gatchalian on Saturday said the Senate committee found how Cusi and his associates “twisted the law” to favor UC Malampaya.

The law, he said, required operators of Malampaya to be “legally, technically and financially” capable of managing a major source of natural gas, which supplies fuel to five power plants whose total output covers about 19.16 percent of the country’s electricity requirement.

‘Test case’

In 2021, the Malampaya production powered more than 64 percent, or about 7.1 million households in the franchise area of Manila Electric Co., the senator added.

“We look at this as a test case for the findings of our investigation, and this is why we immediately brought our findings to the Ombudsman. This was not a transmittal by me personally, but one that was approved by the Senate, and submitted to the Ombudsman the very next day,” he said.

He took exception to the President’s statement dismissing the scrutiny of the Malampaya sale as mere “political antics” of some senators out to pin down Udenna Corp.

“We never ventured into political issues during our hearings. I was repeatedly asked about politics and Mr. Dennis Uy but I never responded to such insinuations,” he stressed.

“I would not have wanted this case to come to this. I am known as a senator whose focus is mainly lawmaking, but I will not keep my eyes closed and cannot sleep soundly at night whenever I see these cases of corruption because that is part of our mandate,” he said.

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