Militant solon to file raps vs ERC over delay in baring of collusion report

MANILA, Philippines—A militant lawmaker warned Tuesday that he would file charges against the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) over its delayed report that would expose the alleged collusion among power providers.

Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

Bayan Muna representative Neri Colmenares said that he is mulling filing charges against the ERC before the Office of the Ombudsman.

“This (collusion report) has taken far too long and the people do not want to be taken hostage by the collusion of energy players while the regulatory body tasked to guard them is dilly dallying. The ERC can be charged under RA 3019 or the Anti-Corrupt and Graft Practices Act Section 3 Paragraph E for injury to the public and Paragraph F for failing to resolve a pending matter before them,” said Colmenares.

The House Senior Deputy Minority Leader hit the ERC for needing more documents to file the collusion report.

“On March 3 this year, the ERC issued an order reducing the P5.35/kwh increase by 70% during the Malampaya shutdown because the rates were not ‘reasonable and competitive’ as a result of ‘contrived supply shortage’. This is now merely a question of who among the generation companies created the artificial supply shortage, so the delay is no longer justified. It is but reasonable for the people to charge ERC before the Ombudsman for their failure to perform their job,” Colmenares added.

The militant lawmaker earlier quoted an executive of the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) stating that the Malampaya shutdown in 2013 was marred with anomalies. Philip Adviento, PEMC manager for training and communications said that that “the PEMC found evidence of “anti-competitive behavior” in November and December 2013” which were stated in an ERC report.

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