Syndicated estafa raps filed vs Iligan power firm official

A criminal complaint for syndicated estafa has been filed with the Makati City Prosecutor's Office against the president of the Iligan Light and Power Inc. (ILPI) and four others in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of two power plants in 2011.

Uriel Borja, a stockholder of ILPI and a former director of Mapalad Energy Generating Corporation (MEGC), sued ILPI president Ralph Casiño on January 5 for violation of Section 1 of Presidential Decree 1689 in relation to Article 315 and 8 of the Revised Penal Code.

Casiño's co-respondents are ILPI and MEGC treasurer Milton Along, former MEGC director Marcelino Agana, MEGC vice president for operations Lorimer Abejuela, Chase Power Ltd. (CPL) representative and Chase Power Management Inc. (CPMI) president Andrew Harvey, and two unidentified individuals.

Borja alleged that the respondents used "false pretenses" in order to persuade the shareholders and directors of MEGC to agree in May 2011 to the acquisition of the Sumitomo power plants from CPL for $3.45 million, which the complainant said was an "excessive price" considering the power plants were previously bought by CPL from UM Assessment Techno Co., Ltd for only $1,040,000.

The complaint said the respondents made it appear that they considered various sources of power and deemed Sumitomo power plants to be the most cost-efficient, "when, in fact, they already decided to acquire said plants regardless of its condition or price."

Abejuela even admitted that MEGC purchased the power plants without conducting a test run, according to Borja.

"As a result, MEGC acquired exorbitantly-priced dysfunctional power plants from CPL, an unqualified contractor, which required it to engage and pay other contractors and caused its costs to skyrocket," the complaint stated.

"This exorbitant increase in cost could have been avoided had respondents Along, Casiño, Agana, and Abejuela not colluded with respondent Harvey, and actually did their job of acting for the best interest of MEGC. The said increase of cost also caused an increase in the generation rate charge sought to be collected by MEGC from ILPI and its consumers," it added.

Apart from the syndicated estafa case, Casiño is also facing separate charges for violating the Corporation Code of the Philippines after he and ILPI legal service assistant Noel Ebdalin denied Borja full access to official corporate papers. —Virgil Lopez, GMA News