Supreme Court sides with Razon firm in Iloilo power distribution row

The Supreme Court (SC) has decided in favor of billionaire Enrique Razon's MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE) in a legal battle involving power distribution in Iloilo City. 

Voting 8-6, the court en banc declared constitutional Section 10 and 17 of MORE's franchise, reversing the judgment of the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 209 that had invalidated these provisions in 2019. 

Iloilo City's longtime power distributor, the Panay Electric Company (PECO), had alleged that these provisions would allow MORE to expropriate its assets. 

SC spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said Justices Marvic Leonen, Amy Lazaro-Javier, Henri Inting, Rodil Zalameda, Mario Lopez, and Samuel Gaerlan dissented. Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla did not take part. 

The court has not yet released a copy of the ruling. 

PECO is Iloilo City's power distributor of 95 years. MORE secured a franchise in 2019. 

PECO went to court last year to question provisions in the MORE franchise that would supposedly allow the Razon company to take over its assets, including its poles, wires, cables, transformers, infrastructure and equipment. 

PECO scored the first win in the legal saga last year after the Mandaluyong RTC  invalidated the expropriation provisions in MORE's franchise.  

MORE appealed and secured a temporary restraining order from the SC against the trial court's ruling. Last March, PECO claimed that MORE initiated expropriation proceedings in Iloilo even when the SC case was still pending. 

PECO accused MORE of the alleged "forcible, deceptive and intimidating" takeover of its stations and facilities earlier this year.

Also last March, the Energy Regulatory Commission revoked PECO's certificate of public convenience and necessity “after determining that MORE has established or acquired its own distribution system and verified MORE’s complete transition to full operations.”

Estrella Elamparo, lawyer for PECO, said the SC decision will have "reverberating consequences that open the power of expropriation to abuse."

She said the tight 8-6 vote supports their position that "the takeover of PECO's properties is not the exercise of eminent domain contemplated by our laws, but a violation of constitutional rights."

"Although this is a massive hurdle, we will not give up on our fight and we will continue to pursue the available legal remedies to defend PECO’s constitutional rights," she said in a statement.

"Despite this temporary setback, we remain optimistic that we will ultimately be vindicated not just for PECO but for the people of Iloilo," she added.  —KG/KBK, GMA News