Napocor prexy only on leave

Not fired, just on terminal leave.

Energy Secretary Vincent Perez Jr. clarified yesterday that National Power Corp. (Napocor) president Jesus Alcordo was not fired, but allowed to go on leave.

Alcordo himself admitted to reporters that he was on leave effective today, but would be officially resigned on Feb. 4 by which time his replacement would have been appointed.

Perez said Alcordo offered his resignation last November, but President Arroyo asked him to stay on until a replacement has been found.

A well-placed source said a shortlist of nominees has been submitted to the Palace.

The list reportedly included Nestle Philippines president Juan Santos, former Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. country chairman Oscar Reyes and Napocor executive vice president Roland Quilala.

The source said Perez wanted a good corporate manager to run Napocor, not necessarily someone who is knowledgeable in the energy business.

Alcordo said he offered to quit "to resolve some family matters to avoid any conflict of interest."

Earlier reports had it that the President sacked Alcordo as a power outage swept the entire Luzon for several hours on Monday.

Alcordo said he welcomed investigation by an independent body to find out the cause of the blackout.

"Let us wait for the investigation to be finished so we can conclusively say what caused the blackout," Alcordo said. - Donnabelle Gatdula, Marichu Villanueva