Just wait for SC’s verdict, Peco told

By Lenie Lectura – July 10, 2020
from Business Mirror

The congressional representative in the lone district of Iloilo City has appealed to Panay Electric Co. (Peco) to refrain from conducting events, or even issuing statements, meant to push its claim to the ownership of the Iloilo City power distribution franchise.

“Peco has raised a lot of issues after it was not given a new congressional franchise and its provisional permit to operate was not granted anew by the ERC [Energy Regulatory Commission]. Since Peco already filed several cases and will not accept the fact that it was denied a franchise by Congress, I advise Peco to await the final ruling of the Supreme Court,” Rep. Julienne Baronda, a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Energy, said in a news statement.

She added: “I pray that Peco will heed the appeal for sobriety and wait for the Supreme Court to decide on the issue it raised on the constitutionality of the law passed by Congress.”

For his part, Iloilo City Councilor Alan Zaldivar clarified that he did not blame MORE Power Corp. for the power outage incidents caused by the rehabilitation and preventive maintenance work.

“I have not, in any way, castigated, or imputed, anything bad against the president of MORE. In fact, we were so thankful at the City Council for MORE’s presence in the fact-finding investigation because MORE cleared all the air of doubts regarding the prevailing power situation in the city of Iloilo. And we really appreciate that kind gesture, a gesture that the former composition of the City Council never had during the time of Peco,” Zaldivar said.

The repair and maintenance work program being implemented by MORE Power is necessary to extend the life of the substations and prevent breakdowns that could lead to massive and prolonged brownouts.

Zaldivar said the city councilors welcomed MORE Power’s report on the ongoing preventive maintenance work aimed at improving the electric distribution service in Iloilo City.

He pointed out that in comparison, Peco and its officials have refused to appear twice when it was earlier summoned by the City Council.