Transco to absorb 4,000 Napocor employees

The newly-created National Transmission Co. (Transco) will absorb some 4,000 employees of the soon-to-be abolished National Power Corp. (Napocor), a ranking Napocor official said yesterday.

"We have been proposing to absorb at least 4,000 personnel, but this will be subject to approval by the new Napocor board," the official said, adding that this level has been increased from 3,500 employees as earlier proposed.

After the signing of Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, the Napocor’s function will being limited to being an operator of the strategic power utilities group (SPUG) and other small generating assets that would not be absorbed by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

Transco, owned 100 percent by PSALM, will take hold of all transmission assets of Napocor including the right to operate the national transmission system.

Transco will also implement the Grid Code and provide non-discriminatory access to its system by other industry players.

PSALM was also formed to assume all assets, debts and contractual obligations of Napocor. Within six months, it will formulate the privatization plan for both Transco and the generation assets of Napocor.

Even before the power measure was approved, the Napocor had already made serious efforts to streamline its workforce to make it more attractive to potential investors.

The state-owned power firm offered an early retirement program (called special disengagement program) that included separation benefits and financial assistance.

As a result, the number of Napocor personnel has gone down from about 17,000 in 1994 (the year that the original version of the Power Bill was filed) to 8,850 as of January 2001.

According to Napocor, those employees who opted to stay would be retained and retooled to give them a better chance of being absorbed in Napocor’s successor-companies when the future owners finally take over.

Energy Secretary Vincent Perez has proposed the privatization of Transco ahead of the generation assets of Napocor.

The energy chief said this way, the generation assets would be more attractive since the prospective buyers would know who will run the transmission firm.

The government expects to generate some $2.4 billion to $2.7 billion from the sale of the transmission assets of Napocor. Under the law, these assets could be sold either through outright sale or by concessionaire.