Meralco could be liable of estafa - DOJ chief

MANILA, Philippines - MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez on Thursday warned the Lopez-owned Manila Electric Power Company (Meralco) that it could be liable for large scale estafa if it uses the P25 billion interest in the trust fund to its affiliate firms. Speaking before the weekly Usapang Daungan in Quezon City, Gonzalez said the Meralco management has yet to explain where the multi-billion peso trust fund is included in the other funds of the private power distributor. “The question there is if you have a collection of Meralco, where is the money deposited? This is not Meralco's money and should be held in trust. Is this co-mingled with funds of Meralco?" he asked. He noted that during a meeting in Panglao, Bohol, Meralco representatives cited that the base customers of the company are about four million. “Assuming that it is estafa, then the consumers who own the funds should have equity or shares," Gonzalez said. He also cited that in 2007, P561 million worth of electricity had been used by offices own by Meralco, which had been passed to the consumers in the form of systems loss. Gonzalez said there is already a planned action in Congress to file a class suit against the electric firm for the alleged overcharging. Earlier, Raffy Andrada, Meralco 1st vice president, said the practice to pass the systems loss to consumers has been approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the quasi-judicial government entity which reviews and approves any request for electricity rate adjustments by several power firms. “As long as the law is not repealed, we will continue to abide by it," Andrada said. Astro del Castillo, a financial analyst, said Meralco should not only be blamed for the high cost of electricity in the country but also other agencies concerned such as the National Power Corporation (Napocor). Del Castillo said the government should also look into the independent power producers (IPPs) in the Visayas and Mindanao which could have also made such violations. - GMANews.TV