Solar Para sa Bayan defends congressional franchise

Solar Para sa Bayan Corp. founder and CEO Leandro Leviste insisted on Tuesday that House Bill 8179, approved on second reading by the House of Representatives, is the fruit of merits and not political favors.

The bill seeks to grant a national franchise to operate in favor of the renewable energy firm.

Once the company’s congressional franchise is enacted, Solar Para sa Bayan can build, install, establish, operate and maintain power distribution technologies and mini-grid systems across the country.

Leviste, the son of Sen. Loren Legarda, noted that the franchise will help address the energy gap affecting more than 20 million Filipinos who do not have 24/7 access to electricity. This reality can be gleaned from the company’s projects in Mindoro, Palawan, and Masbate, he said.

“This is not just about solar energy. This is not about one house, but reaching municipalities, larger areas, with their own integrated systems,” he told reporters.

“As of the moment, if you want to build and operate a solar firm like ours, you need to secure the permission of the existing electricity provider. Kahit palpak ang serbisyo sa kanilang lugar, hindi sila pumapayag na may pumasok na pribadong kumpanya ... sa probinsiya nila,” Leviste noted.

“With this franchise, we can now build solar mini-grids at wala pong gastos ang gobyerno na sa ngayon ay gumagastos ng P50 billion per year on electric distribution utilities,” he added.

There have been serious allegations that the company would get its national franchise through the political influence of Senator Legarda.

“It is because of such insinuation that we have taken it upon ourselves to doubly prove the merit of this application,” the company’s founding CEO said.

“Karaniwan, humihingi muna ng prangkisa bago magtayo ng proyekto. But for us, we have already established our operations in 12 worst-served towns in the Philippines, at no cost to the government and at lower cost to consumers. P8 per kilowatt hour. We have already shown our capability to deliver the best service at the lowest cost and at the soonest possible time,” Leviste said.

He cited the case of Palauan in Occidental Mindoro, saying that the place has been benefiting from electricity provided by the Solar Para sa Bayan in the past year at half the cost.

“Kahit nagkabagyo roon, lahat ng bayan ng Occidental Mindoro, nawalan ng kuryente. Ang Palauan lang ang hindi nawalan ng kuryente. Ito po ay dahil hindi po namin papabayaan ang aming mga projects. We are committed to this,” Leviste said.

“This is purely on the basis of merit. And we hope that this pioneering bill will pave the way for others to also apply for a franchise so that Filipinos can have the luxury of choice for best service at the lowest cost,” he added.

He clarified that the franchise does not ban other companies from following the same business model and securing their own franchises.

“This bill has a non-exclusivity clause, and this clause has been repeated in the bill to make it crystal clear. The Constitution also states that a franchise cannot be exclusive. So even if this bill were exclusive, it will be stricken down by the court,” he said.

Buhay party-list Rep. Jose Atienza, who argued against the measure, warned that the franchise is risky since the company can sell to anybody at any given time.

Leviste dismissed such allegation as distraction, saying the bill prevents any sale or franchise transfer.

“Why don’t we focus on efforts to improving our respective services, to lower the cost and improve the quality of services in the Philippines rather than just being critical?” he added. —VDS, GMA News