Walden Bello tells ERC chief: Just quit

Akbayan party-list representative Walden Bello. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Just resign.

Akbayan party-list representative Walden Bello made this statement addressing Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chair Zenaida Ducut, who is facing a complaint for allegedly failing to protect consumers from Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) historic power rate hike.

“It will just save us time and effort kung mag-resign na lang si Ducut (if Ducut just resigns),” Bello said in an interview with Inquirer Radio 990 AM on Friday.

Akbayan on Wednesday has called on the Office of the President to remove Ducut from the position for her “gross neglect of duty and incompetence to protect electricity consumers” after she approved Meralco’s power rate hike without first holding a public hearing.

The power rate hike was supposedly a result of a shortfall in power after various plants shut down while the Malampaya natural gas field went offline.

The power producers then bid out high prices in the spot market, effectively jacking up electricity rates.

The proposed hike was stalled by the Supreme Court following a public outcry that the historic high bids in the spot market were allegedly a result of power players’ collusion.

Bello said the ERC should protect consumers and not the private firms as the regulatory board on energy.

“The whole point of the ERC is to watch over the consumers. It did not perform its duty,” he said.

In 2008, Ducut was appointed in the ERC by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

From 1995 to 2004, Ducut was congresswoman of  Pampanga second district,  which is now represented by Arroyo.
Ducut is also a respondent to a malversation charge for supposedly being an agent of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles in a billion pesos racket involving lawmakers’ pork barrel fund.