Tiongco: Power co-op abusing my generosity

Controversial Chinese-Filipino businessman Alfredo Tiongco said he’s fed up with being treated shabbily.

And for starters, if negotiations bog down again, he’s finally pulling the plug on a local electric cooperative at President Arroyo’s hometown of Lubao in Pampanga, which, he said, has been abusing his generosity.

He also threatens to sue media outfits that continue to refer to him in their reports as a "suspected drug lord."

The stigma of a 1997 drug case hurts and infuriates the businessman, his equally controversial legal counsel, Oliver Lozano, told a news conference yesterday at the businessman’s residence in Talayan Village, Quezon City.

"My client has already been acquitted of all the charges against him," said Lozano. "Why do you people continue to refer to him as a suspected drug lord?"

In 1997, the Quezon City court cleared Tiongco of drug trafficking charges, finding no evidence to pin him down. The case stemmed from the interception of a huge shipment of shabu being ferried by a fishing boat he allegedly owned off the Navotas fishport.

Last year, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo alleged that two Chinese chemists engaged in shabu manufacture had been working for the businessman.

"Yes, they raided my cement factory many times, without finding anything against me," he said.

But he is apologetic when reminded of his decision to switch off the electric transformer of his cement and hollow block factory in Lubao last Sept. 27, plunging 29 out of 44 barangays in darkness on the very eve of the 92nd birthday anniversary of the late President Diosdado Macapagal.

"I honestly didn’t know that," he said. "Had I known that, do you think I would have done what I did? I am a supporter of President Arroyo you see. I apologize to the President for what happened."

He asked the President to investigate the management of Pampanga Electric Cooperative (Pelco) II for what he suspects, is a "big anomaly" at the electric cooperative.

He said what Pelco II did to him is a case of a dog that bit the hands that had been feeding it.

Pelco II officials had served a notice of disconnection to the businessman for some P3.6 million in arrears. But Lozano said the amount is nothing compared to what Pelco II owes Tiongco.

The cooperative has been using Tiongco’s 10-megavolt transformer in Barangay San Jose Gumi, Lubao since 1999 without paying him a cent, Lozano said, adding that Pelco II is supposed to pay his client a "reasonable" rent of P500,000 a month.

"They have not paid me anything at all," Tiongco said, adding that he imported his power transformer from Germany at a cost $700,000 or about P35 million.

"What I am asking from Pelco II is only a minuscule amount to cover interest payments," he said.

Since the electric cooperative owes him P14 million in rental arrears, he said its officials could have easily credited this to his electricity bills.

He said he has been wondering why Pelco II could not pay him when it is earning a gross income of at least P36 million a month.

But Pelco II officials said Tiongco has no basis to charge the cooperative, claiming there has been no formal arrangement on fees for the use of Tiongco’s power transformer. — With Ding Cervantes