|
FIRST
Gas Power Corp. said Thursday that it did not engage in
ghost deliveries to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) as
alleged by an administration legislator and instead
fingered the National Power Corp. (Napocor) as the
culprit behind the controversy.
Richard
Tantoco, chief operating officer of First Gas, said
Napocor officials “should be man enough” to explain the
allegations of ghost deliveries to the committee.
Tantoco testified at Thursday’s hearing at the House
Committee on Energy, which was marred by heated
arguments among opposition and administration
legislators who accused each other of representing
“someone.”
“Napocor
signed up over 40 ‘take-or-pay’ contracts. The capacity
fees paid by Napocor for power it did not use dwarfs
which Meralco paid. These were passed on to customers as
purchased power cost adjustment [PPCA], which resulted
in a public controversy in 2000 to 2005,” Tantoco told
the committee headed by the President’s son, Lakas Rep.
Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo of Pampanga.
He
added: “The government had to assume P200 billion of
Napocor’s financial obligations, which left Napocor with
still [more than] P1 trillion in unpaid loans and
liabilities.”
“First
Gas did not engage in ‘ghost’ deliveries. Napocor should
be man enough to explain this to this committee. First
Gas stands ready to compare its IPP [independent power
producer] contract, which, by the way, was approved by
the ERB [Energy Regulatory Board], with the IPP
contracts of Napocor,” Tantoco said.
In a
privileged speech on May 14, Kabalikat ng Malayang
Pilipino (Kampi) Rep. Luis Villafuerte revealed that
ghost deliveries between First Gas and Meralco resulted
in blatant overcharging of consumers.
Tantoco
said Meralco has three current “take-or-pay” contracts
with Quezon Power, a 440-megawatt coal plant owned by a
group of three American giants Intergen, Bechtel and
Covanta and two contracts with First Gas.
He said
Napocor signed up over 40 “take-or-pay” contracts and
that the capacity fees it paid for power it did not use
dwarfs that which Meralco paid.
Tantoco
told legislators that Villafuerte’s claims were rehashed
allegations, echoing those by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile in
2002.
Tantoco
said these were refuted by Peter Garrucho, the chief
executive officer of First Gas, in a public hearing held
by the Senate committee on public services.
He said
Garrucho’s statements were affirmed in that same hearing
by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the Napocor,
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. and
subsequently by the Senate Committee, when it approved
the extension of Meralco’s franchise by 25 years.
Before
Tantoco’s testimony, Nacionalista Party-United
Opposition Rep. Teofisto Guingona III aired the former’s
observation that Villafuerte’s privileged speech was
just a rehash of the 2002 Senate hearing and has already
been answered.
Guingona
noted that in the last committee hearing, it was
established that First Gas was not able to deliver
electricity because Napocor was not able to do the
transmission upgrade.
“As far
as First Gas [is concerned] we already established last
time that they were not able to deliver the so-called
electricity because ’yun pong highway kung
saan dadaan ’yung transmission, kung saan po
dadaan ’yun kuryente patungo sa Meralco ’eh hindi
nagawa,” Guingona said.
Guingona’s statement prompted Villafuerte to insinuate
that the former is “representing someone.” This resulted
in heated exchanges between the two legislators, as
Guingona accused Villafuerte as the one representing
someone—because whenever Malacañang is in trouble he is
always in the forefront.
Meanwhile, Tantoco also refuted Villafuerte’s claim that
there is only an interim transmission agreement between
First Gas Power and Napocor and, therefore, First Gas
cannot fault Napocor for having failed to provide
adequate transmission capacity.
He
furnished the committee copies of executed agreements
which he said convinced the First Gas’ lenders to
release $700 million in loans.
Asked by
legislators about the payment Meralco made to First Gas
even when it failed to deliver electricity, Tantoco said
it is allowed under the take-or-pay contract between
First Gas and Meralco.
This
practice was affirmed by ERC chairman Rodolfo Albano.
PDP-Laban Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati City asked
First Gas to submit to the committee copies of the IPP
contracts with Meralco which he said are the best
evidence to determine who are lying.
Napocor
said it would submit to the committee documents to
disprove First Gas accusations. |
