Bayan Muna representative Neri Colmenares. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Militant group Bayan Muna will file a petition before the Supreme Court on Monday to stop power producers from collecting generation charges from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco).
Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares said the Supreme Court should issue a temporary restraining order against the generation charges being collected from Meralco and declare unconstitutional the authority of power generators to increase their prices without regulation.
“That’s what we hope the Supreme Court will do. Because the moment that they (power producers) are public utilities, then there are certain regulations that they have to undergo,” Colmenares said in an interview over Radio Inquirer 990am on Monday.
He also criticized Meralco’s threat of rotating blackouts this summer because of the TRO that the high tribunal issued against the power rate hike it imposed last month. The threat, he said, was baseless.
Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla had also dismissed Meralco’s warning, saying it was far from happening.
Colmenares also said the fight against the rate increase was not confined in Metro Manila.
“The moment Meralco increases its rate, all major factories, corporations and offices including the goods they produce will increase dramatically in price, and the provinces and regions in the same manner will also suffer,” he said.
But instead of giving President Aquino emergency powers as proposed by a colleague in the House of Representative , Colmenares urged the chamber to just repeal the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) .