Solar Philippines should pay ₱24-B fine by February —DOE's Garin

Solar Philippines Power Holdings Inc., founded by Batangas Representative Leandro Leviste, should settle about P24 Billion in penalties to the Department of Energy (DOE) by February.

This was disclosed by Energy Secretary Sharon Garin to reporters at the sidelines of the Renewable Energy Investment Forum in Taguig City on Friday.

“I think it’s one month after the demand letter [was sent]… It was sent about weeks ago, so it should be settled within this month,” the Energy chief said.

Last month, Garin announced that the DOE is imposing some P24 billion in penalties to Solar Philippines after the termination of thousands of megawatts worth of renewable energy contracts for failure to deliver on its production commitments.

The penalties include performance bonds, contractual obligations, the supposed cost of the project, and financial obligations for the training and development fund and other obligations in the contract.

The penalty came after the company allegedly failed to deliver on its commitment to produce nearly 12 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity.

“As far as the DOE is concerned, this is final already… so if they [Solar Philippines] don’t pay, then we take it to the legal recourse that we have,” Garin said.

The Energy chief said that the DOE is awaiting the recommendation of the Department of Justice, Ombudsman, and the Office of the Solicitor General on the legal options should Solar Philippines refuse to settle its penalties.

“I will trust the decision of those agencies on what the options are for the DOE or the national government on what to do if they don’t pay,” she said.

The Energy chief added that the investors who fail on their committed delivery should be held accountable.

“Because we cannot allow our investors to have this behavior…. if we just allow this kind of behavior, the integrity of our GEA (Green Energy Auction) and DOE will be compromised,” Garin said.

To avoid similar commitment delivery failures, the DOE amended its rules as it now requires investors to have already secured the properties where they plan to put up their power facilities before they can get contracts, according to the Energy chief.

READ: TIMELINE: Leviste-founded Solar Philippines faces P24B in penalties

The Energy chief had said that the DOE has consistently sent notices and show cause orders along with requests for Solar to renew their bonds, but to no avail.

“We have not received any response from the (their) company nila sa (to the) DOE, dun sa performance bond nila na kailangan nilang bayaran (for their performance bond that they need to pay),” she said earlier.

GMA News Online reached out to Leviste for comment. The story will be updated once a response is received.—LDF, GMA Integrated News