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One of the reasons the Senate Committee on Public Services chaired by Senator Grace Poe has approved the application of MORE Electric and Power Co. (MORE Power) for an electricity distribution franchise in Iloilo City is the existing franchise from Panay Electric Co. (PECO). ).
The 25-year CEEC franchise is expected to end in January 2019 and has been renewed with the House of Representatives in November 2017.
The request is still pending before the House committee on legislative franchises, while MORE Power's papers have been sent to the lower house.
On the basis of the discussions held at the hearing convened by Senator Poe on October 22, 2018, PECO obtained a 25-year voting right in June 1968 under Republic Act No. 5360, which expired in 1994.
According to Article XI, Section 11 of the 1987 Constitution, public services such as CEECs must have the right to vote before they can operate.
Senator Francis Escudero pointed out, however, that in 1994, the CEEC franchise in 1968 was extended administratively until 2019 by the National Electrification Commission.
"Your franchise RA No. 5360 was granted in 1968 and, by administrative decision and not by law, it has been extended for 25 years and will continue until next year. To come back to my question, do you have a legislative franchise issued by Congress to date? Said Escudero.
FALSE INFORMATION
In a statement, PECO called false insinuations the absence of frankness in Congress.
The statement also explained the history of his current franchise which is the subject of the renewal application.
"CEEC had a legislative franchise which was renewed in 1968. On the expiry of this franchise, CEEC and other electricity distribution services renewed their franchise through the intermediary of the National Electrification Commission (NEC), which was the governing body authorized in the past to renew franchises. In the case of CEEC, it renewed its franchise through NEC in 1994 and obtained an extension of 25 years until 19 January 2019. "
When the Electricity Sector Reform Act (EPIRA) was approved in 2001, the power to renew the concessions of the electric utilities came back to Congress, prompting the NEC had granted concessions to renew their concessions to Congress almost expiring.
PECO even cited the renewal of the Cotabato Light and Power Company (CLPC) franchise as a typical example.
"On the expiration of the CLCP franchise in 1964, Congress renewed it for an additional 25 years, until June 17, 1989. CLCP then renewed its franchise extension through the through NEC, which gave 25 years of additional operation to the CLCS, until June 17, 2014. Just like CEEC. At present, the CLCS has renewed its expiring franchise in 2014 to Congress due to the provision of the EPIRA. "
PECO has stated that its current franchise is valid under NEC and that it "only follows the EPIRA by now requesting its franchise renewal through Congress".
"This was the procedure to be followed by many of the country's public electricity utilities, including CEEC, which had simply followed the law on the renewal of its franchise at the time and at the moment," he said. he adds.
TRANSITION
But Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said that CEEC should have asked for a franchise in Congress just after the adoption of the EPIRA law in early 2000 instead of waiting for its expiry next year.
Senator Poe stated that there was no longer any discussion of the franchise of MORE Power, as no one objected to its application while that of CEEC is still pending in the House.
Escudero said that if MORE Power gets the franchise, the Congress would give it the power of a prominent domain to take back the CEEC's assets for fair compensation.
Poe and the other members of the committee later proposed the creation of a technical working group to transition from CEEC to MORE Power.
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