THE House Committee on Legislative Franchises has started deliberations on the bill granting a 25-year franchise to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to manage, operate, maintain and improve the country’s national power grid.

Lakas Rep. Ferjenel Biron of Iloilo, committee chairman, ordered the creation of a technical working group that will study in detail the various aspects of House Bill 3729. Afterward, the panel will report its recommendations to the committee for further deliberations.

Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, one of the principal authors of the bill, said there is an urgent need to grant the franchise to NGCP so it could start operating the transmission system at its full potential and benefit millions of electricity consumers nationwide.

He urged his colleagues to hasten the approval of the measure pursuant to the mandate of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).

Villafuerte said the government lacks the funds to modernize and expand the present aging transmission system, much less rehabilitate, repair or refurbish dilapidated equipment.

By granting franchise to NGCP, Villafuerte said the government would be able to shift the burden of ensuring continuous financing for the construction, expansion, operation and maintenance of hugely capital-intensive power-generating plants and transmission and sub-transmission systems to the private sector.

Villafuerte said that the present transmission system and grid are not only old but also lacks the capability to transport all the available power being generated by the National Power Corp. and independent power producers (IPPs).

“This inability to transmit IPP-generated power owing to constraints in the transmission highway has always been the excuse of various distribution utilities to increase their rates,” Villafuerte said.

He and the other authors of the bill—Speaker Prospero Nograles, Lakas Reps. Arthur Defensor and Neptali Gonzales Jr. of Iloilo and Mandaluyong, respectively—said that once turned over to the private sector, the transmission system can be run in an efficient manner with greater reliability, improved system security and maximum utilization of its potentials.

Villafuerte said NGCP, the transmission company incorporated by the winning bidder in last year’s auction of the 25-year concession to operate the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) facilities, has the technical expertise, world-class experience and financial capability to operate the country’s transmission system and grid.

During Tuesday’s committee hearing, Villafuerte also said that with the dismissal of the complaint filed by a disqualified bidder on Transco before the Regional Trial Court (RTC)  in Makati, “it’s now all systems-go for Congress to act on the application of the NGCP for a legislative franchise.

“The complaint filed by La Costa that was disqualified by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management [Psalm] on the Transco bidding has been a legal obstacle for NGCP’s application for legislative franchise. With its dismissal by the RTC in Makati, the last legal impediment has been cleared. We can now proceed with the deliberation on NGCP’s application,” Villafuerte said.

On December 12 last year, the NGCP, comprised of Monte Oro, Calaca High Power Corp. and the State Grid Corp. of China bested other bidders for Transco in the bidding conducted by Psalm.

Monte Oro and Calaca, both accounting for 30 percent each of the total shares of the NGCP, have an authorized capital stock of P10 million and P1 million, respectively.

Asked by fellow legislators if there is any inquiry being sought on the issue before the Senate or the Lower House, Villafuerte said there is none.

“As far as any inquiry being sought before Senate or here in the House, there is none that I know of,” Villafuerte said.

NEDA workers want NBN papers bared

EMPLOYEES of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) are urging the agency’s top management to disclose the documents, including all correspondences, project-evaluation reports and board resolutions related to the controversial national broadband network (NBN) project.

THE principal suspect in the killing of eight people and the wounding of six others in Laguna on Monday was killed following a shootout with policemen who came to arrest him.

JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez on Tuesday said it is up to the Congress to enact another death penalty law in reaction to the upsurge of violent crimes in the country.

THE official death toll of Typhoon Cosme rose to 13 as the weather disturbance left the country.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said eight were killed in Ilocos, one in Central Luzon, three in Eastern Visayas and one in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

SUBIC BAY FREE PORT—Officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) had warned employees at the Hanjin shipyard here that malaria, a disease transmitted by mosquito bite, is prevalent at the Redondo Peninsula, the site of the shipbuilding project that now employs some 17,000 workers.

BUS operators on Tuesday denounced what they called government policies and orders that are “illegal, irregular and inimical to public interest.”

THE House Committee on Legislative Franchises has started deliberations on the bill granting a 25-year franchise to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to manage, operate, maintain and improve the country’s national power grid.