ERC-DOJ task force mulled to prosecute erring power industry players

BY MYRNA M. VELASCO – Jul 16, 2023 10:50 PM
from Manila Bulletin

A joint task force of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) is being pushed, purposively to prosecute erring players in the restructured power industry.

“What we’re trying to work out with the DOJ is the procedure … so we might form a task force to enforce the prosecution,” ERC Chairperson Monalisa C. Dimalanta said.

She highlighted that under the existing Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the ERC was already vested with “police powers”, but that can be strengthened via collaboration with its counterpart agency for expediency and expertise as the National Prosecution Service is under the DOJ’s charge.

Apart from reinforcing its police powers, the ERC chief also indicated proposed hike in fines and penalties for violations committed by industry players, including those on project delays.

Further, the ERC is seeking coordination with the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) to demarcate their respective functions on “enforcing compliance rules and prosecution of anti-competitive behavior and abuse of market power.”

She qualified that the EPIRA (Republic Act 9136) or the guiding edict on the establishment of the ERC is an older law compared to the Philippine Competition Act (RA 10667) for PCC’s creation which was just passed in 2015, hence, that raises question on which provisions of the law shall be followed or applied when it comes to instituting legal proceedings on anti-competitive behavior or abuse of market power being committed in the electricity sector.

Dimalanta conveyed that in the past administration, there was already an existing memorandum of agreement between the ERC and PCC, “but we feel that we can improve and define the roles better, especially now that the Commission is still building up the capability and the manpower to really handle competition cases.”

Instead of wrestling over turf issues, she specified “it might be better that we just coordinate – we can agree on which of us will do investigation as prosecution agency; and then which one will be the judge.”

The ERC chief stated “we will decide on that, because in legal terms, it’s anomalous to have the prosecutor also being the judge, so this might already be our opportunity to split (roles).”

On the part of the ERC, she asserted that what is being contemplated is for the PCC to act as the prosecuting agency that will carry out investigation processes, then the ERC will be the one rendering decision on anti-competitive cases.

“We already have submissions, but we also need to check with PCC on its comments,” she stressed, adding that the propounded differentiation of function has been part of the ERC’s recommendations in the EPIRA amendments which is now under deliberations in Congress.