Manila councilor to retaliate for ‘powerless’ schools

In the aftermath of the recent cutting of electricity in 11 Manila public schools for non-payment of bills, the Manila City Council is set to make its own debt collection from the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) for its supposed lease of the ground where electric posts are erected.

Manila City Council minority floor leader Roger Gernale said he will "resurrect" his ordinance seeking payment from Meralco for the estimated 20,000 electric posts all over the city amounting to P7.2 million a year. Gernale pegged the lease for each electrical post at P360 a year or P1 a day.

The ordinance was first proposed two years ago but was shelved amid stiff opposition from the electric company and failure of the council’s ways and means committee to act on it.

"Meralco charges cable and telephone companies for the use of its posts but they don’t pay to anybody for the use of the land where their posts are erected. In that case, they are the only ones earning here," said Gernale.

The councilor also cited the fact that the city government coughs up about P2 million monthly just to pay for the streetlights.

Gernale jumped up from his seat during Thursday’s council session onto the podium to remind the city council of his shelved ordinance after the Council’s presiding officer, Manila Vice Mayor Danilo Lacuna, suggested that Meralco also be made to pay for its own debt to the City.

Lacuna issued the statement during deliberations on the city government’s decision to shoulder the unpaid electric bills of the 11 Manila public schools which the Department of Education, Culture and Sports failed to provide for.

Power to the 11 schools was cut off while seven more schools with unpaid bills may suffer the same fate.

Gernale admitted that Manila may stand as the only city ever to demand such lease payments from Meralco.

"This will be precedent-setting but I believe we have a strong case because it was only recently that the Supreme Court ordered Meralco to pay rentals to Laguna for its transmission lines located in the province," said the opposition councilor.

Gernale said he would soon be sending a letter to the council’s ways and means committee to demand action on his ordinance with a threat that their failure to do so will be tantamount to negligence.

Meralco argued during the public hearing of the proposed ordinance that it is vested with a "franchise" to serve the community, making it exempted from such leases.

Meralco lawyers also threatened to pass on the rentals to the electric bills of Manila residents should the ordinance be approved.

"They can’t do that (pass on the cost). We will not allow that," said Gernale, while signifying his readiness to take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.