ERC officials defy Duterte's call to resign, seek probe into allegations of fraud

Officials of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) defied the call of President Rodrigo R. Duterte for them to resign, and instead urged for an investigation into allegations of corruption within the agency.

"Ang kailangan siguro diyan, mapagusapan muna kung ano 'yang nasa isip talaga ng Presidente. Pwede lang kaming paalisin kung merong irregularity or based on investigation – ma-prove na mayroong anomaly," Commissioner Alfredo J. Non said in an interview on GMA News' "Quick Response Team."

"Dapat magkaroon ng due process before anything is done," the commissioner said.

Duterte on Monday told commissioners of the ERC to resign, following the suicide of Director Francisco Villa Jr. on November 9 – supposedly a result of corruption in the organization as bared in his suicide notes.

His sister, the journalist Charie Villa, was earlier quoted as saying that he was being pressured to approve ERC procurement contracts and hiring consultants without proper bidding and outside of mandated procedures.

A party-list congressman on Monday urged the House energy committee to investigate the alleged "midnight deals" between the ERC and power generation companies affiliated with the Manila Electric Company, which supposedly resulted in the suicide of Francisco Villa.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, in House Resolution No. 566, criticized the ERC for extending an order that allowed distribution companies to conduct a competitive selection process (CSP) in power supply procurement.

Given this, Zarate said the deadline was "mysteriously" moved to April 30, 2016 from the original November 6, 2015, allowing Meralco to end up with the 20-year power supply agreements with seven generation companies.

"This alleged questionable and corruption-laden transactions within the ERC even resulted in the unfortunate death of ERC Director Francisco Villa on November 9, 2016, who supposedly left hand-written suicide notes narrating the pressures he received to approve anomalous transactions," the resolution read.

For his part, ERC Chair and CEO Jose Vicente B. Salazar said he is awaiting the President's return from Peru to explain "current developments."

"I am not waiting for the President's return and will immediately seek out a meeting with him to give him a fuller picture of the current developments at the ERC," Salazar said.

Also on Monday, Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy pushed for the suspension of ERC officials supposedly involved in alleged corruption that could have led to the suicide of Director Villa.

In a House resolution, Dy urged the House of Representatives to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the circumstances that compelled Villa take his own life. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS/KBK, GMA News