ERC to implement order on suspension of execs

MANILA, Philippines — The suspension of the four Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) commissioners will be implemented tomorrow following the order of Malacañang.

ERC chair Agnes Devanadera said the commission will implement the suspension after the Office of the Executive Secretary directed the ERC to comply with the order of the Office of the Ombudsman.

“The ERC received the memo on the suspension of the four commissioners from the Office of the Executive Secretary close to 6 p.m. yesterday. By then I already left the office. I will be able to serve the suspension only (tomorrow), at the earliest,” she said in a text message.

The order from Malacañang, signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, called for the suspension of ERC commissioners Alfredo Non, Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Patricia Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana.

Medialdea said the order of the ombudsman is “immediately executory and may not be interrupted by any motion, appeal or petition that may be filed by the respondents, unless otherwise ordered by the ombudsman or by any court of competent jurisdiction.”

Earlier, Rolly Faller, the counsel of the four commissioners, said the agency was waiting for the Office of the President (OP) to implement the ombudsman’s order before taking any action.

“Since the four commissioners are under the OP, we will also wait for the disposition of the OP as to whether it will cause the implementation of the suspension order,” he said.

Of the four commissioners, Non and Taruc will be retiring on Tuesday. No replacements for them have been named.

“The retiring commissioners are on leave already,” Devanadera said. “No replacement yet because the two are not yet retired and the other two positions are not yet vacant.”

Last May, the ombudsman ordered the three-month suspension of the four commissioners for failing to act on the misuse of bill deposits by distribution utilities (DUs).

As its basis for the suspension order, the ombudsman said the four commissioners continuously refrained from strictly implementing rules defining the nature of bill deposits as “mere guarantee in payment of bills,” which must be returned upon termination of the DUs’ service.

The four commissioners have filed for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the suspension order with the Court of Appeals (CA), as this will prevent the regulator from functioning and acting on the application, their legal counsel said.

This is the second time the four commissioners have been suspended for failing to do their duty.

Last December, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the suspension of Non, Taruc, Asirit and Sta. Ana for one year without pay for delaying the conduct of competitive bidding in securing power-supply agreements (PSAs).

The competitive selection process (CSP) policy – which requires DUs and electric cooperatives to undertake competitive bidding to secure PSAs with generation companies – was supposed to start on Nov. 7, 2015 but implementation was moved to April 30, 2016 to give power players a transition period to comply. – With Christina Mendez