House panel OKs franchise renewal for Meralco, electric cooperatives

MANILA, Philippines — Proposals to extend the franchise of the Manny V. Pangilinan-run Manila Electric Company (Meralco) by another 25 years has been approved and endorsed by the committee on legislative franchises of the House of Representatives yesterday.

Its existing franchise, which will expire in 2028, will eventually be valid for another 25 years, or until 2053.

Under its existing franchise, Meralco is authorized to construct, operate and keep a distribution system for the conveyance of electric power to consumers in the cities, municipalities and barangays of Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon and Pampanga.

“For the past few months, we have held meetings to discuss the franchise application of Meralco. Since then, we have received various letters of support,” panel chairman Rep. Gus Tambunting said after his committee consolidated House Bills 9793, 9813, 10317 and its amended version.

The three measures were authored by Reps. Joey Salceda (House ways and means committee chairman), Rufus Rodriguez (House committee on constitutional amendments chairman) and Lord Allan Jay Velasco (House committee on energy chairman).

“The franchise is possibly the single most important private bill for industrial policy in this country. Meralco services an area responsible for about half the country’s entire GDP and about 26 percent of the population,” Salceda said.

“Meralco is an exemplar of how service reliability can create economic growth and development. Meralco has also fully complied with the Energy Regulatory Commission’s rules and issuances. Some P48.3 billion in consumer refunds have also been delivered in full,” he added.

“Practically everything has been discussed, has been ventilated and have been answered (in the previous marathon hearings),” said Rodriguez.

Velasco, who served as Speaker during former president Duterte’s term, made the same endorsement. “Everything has been fully discussed. No other issue has been put forward. Meralco has long been serving our country well and they deserve to be granted a new franchise.”

The Meralco bill will now be sent to the House plenary for the final approval of all House members before it can be sent to the Senate for concurrence.

At the same time, the Tambunting committee also approved House Bill 9696 granting the franchise to operate distribution systems to Sorsogon I Electric Cooperative Inc. (Soreco I) and House Bills 9775 and 9838, granting the same to Sorsogon Electric Cooperative II (Soreco II).

HB 9696, authored by Sorsogon District 2 Rep. Wowo Fortes, would grant Soreco I the franchise to operate in the areas of Bulan, Bulusan, Casiguran, Irosin, Juban, Magallanes, Matnog and Sta. Magdalena in Sorsogon.

HBs 9775 and 9838, authored by Reps. Marie Bernadette Escudero (District 1) and Fortes respectively, grants Soreco II the franchise to operate in the areas of Donsol, Pilar, Castilla, Gubat, Prieto Diaz and Barcelona in Sorsogon.