ERC chief seeks more time to answer raps

MANILA, Philippines - Beleaguered Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chief Zenaida Ducut is seeking more time to answer an administrative complaint for her ouster, which party-list group Akbayan has filed with the Office of the President.

Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez, one of two Akbayan complainants, said yesterday Ducut asked for more time after the Supreme Court (SC) asked the ERC to submit a memorandum on the case involving the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)’s P4.15-per-kilowatthour rate increase.

“Chairperson Ducut is in effect arguing that she needs more time to submit her personal defense in the administrative case filed against her because the ERC is also currently preparing its answer in the Supreme Court,” he said.

“This implies a disturbing fusion between the ERC case, which is against the agency as a public government entity, and Ducut’s case, which is against her in her personal capacity. Chair Ducut is definitely not the ERC, and the two cases should be handled separately,” he said.

In its administrative complaint, Akbayan claimed that the ERC chief is not competent to lead her regulatory agency and should be removed from office.

“While we understand that as head of the ERC, Ducut needs to ensure that the agency complies appropriately with the orders of the high court, she cannot use this as a justification to delay her response to a case personally filed against her,” Gutierrez, who is a lawyer, said.

For his part, Rep. Walden Bello, the other complainant in the case, urged Malacañang to throw out the ERC chief’s appeal for more time.

“The motion is unmeritorious considering that the complaint is against Ducut in her personal capacity, while those that were filed before the SC were against the ERC,” he said.

He said the request could be designed to delay proceedings on the complaint.

“There’s no doubt about it, Ducut’s tactics have the clear intention to prevent the expeditious resolution of the proceedings being conducted by the Office of the President,” he added.

Contempt raps vs Meralco

Meanwhile, party-list group Bayan Muna will file a contempt charge against Meralco with the SC for including in its February billing the rate increase the tribunal has frozen.

“Our legal team is now preparing the complaint,” Rep. Carlos Zarate told a news conference yesterday.

He said Meralco included in its February billing the P4.15 per kwh increase the SC has stopped the distributor from collecting by issuing a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) in December.

Zarate said Meralco violated the terms of the restraining order by including the prohibited adjustment in its billing.

“At the very least, the inclusion confuses Meralco’s five million customers,” he added.

It was upon Bayan Muna’s petition that the SC stopped the rate increase. The tribunal has extended the TRO.

On Tuesday, a Meralco spokesman admitted that billings sent to about 1.5 million customers show the prohibited rate adjustment.

However, he said the affected customers should ignore the inclusion of the increase and pay only the net amount due.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño complained that his February bill shows a “Balance From Previous Billing” amounting to P173.70, increasing the amount he has to pay to P2,960.50.

“When I inquired about this with Meralco’s customer service call center, I was advised to ignore the ‘Total Amount Due’ of P2,960.56 and just pay the ‘Total Current Amount’ of P2,786.86,” he said.

He said many Meralco customers would be paying the total amount due if they did not notice the unauthorized inclusion.

“If my wife did not point out the anomaly and I did not bother to check with their customer service, I would have done what most consumers habitually do – simply pay the ‘Total Amount Due’ portion of the bill. This is clearly a blatant violation of the SC order,” he added.

Casiño urged Meralco to tell the public how much it has collected from the inclusion of the prohibited increase and to immediately refund its customers.

Technical problems

In a related development, the Malampaya gas field in offshore Palawan experienced technical problems on Monday, but officials said there would be no adverse effect on the power supply because there is enough replacement power.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said the affected power generators will shift to liquid fuel.

“It will have little impact because part of it will be paid by Malampaya and this is only at most 10 percent of overall supply of Meralco for two days,” he said.  – With Iris Gonzales