Ombudsman probing Leviste-founded firms for possibly skirting law

The Ombudsman is looking into the possibility that the two solar energy-related firms founded by Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste may have allegedly skirted the law in the course of its operations.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said they are studying the case of Leviste’s Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiary, the SP New Energy Corporation (SPNEC).

“We are studying the case of Solar Philippines and the selling of its spin off company, SPNEC, a subsidiary and intimately related to Solar Philippines. We have to look at it from that point of view,” Remulla said in a press conference.

“Kung hindi mo nga nabenta iyong isa, pero gagawa ka naman ng subsidiary, baka naman pinaiikutan mo na iyong batas. It should be common sense to all of us that such situation should not happen. In any case, we are studying it,” he added.

(If you were not able to sell one company and you end up putting up a subsidiary, you might be going around the law. It should be common sense to all of us that such situation should not happen. In any case, we are studying it.)

GMA News Online has reached out to Leviste for comment and will publish it as soon as it is available. 

It may be recalled that Leviste sold P22.259 billion worth of SPNEC shares to Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGEN)’s renewable energy subsidiary, MGEN Renewables, from 2023 to 2025.

On Tuesday, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin announced that Solar Philippines was fined P24 billion.

This was following the termination of over 11,000 megawatts worth of contracts in the past two years for its failure to deliver on its production commitments of nearly 12 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity. 

Aside from the sale of SPNEC shares to MGEN, Remulla said Solar Philippines’ non-delivery of services has great consequences that need immediate action.

“This is just not just about violation of the franchise. It goes deeper into the country’s energy picture. Because otherwise, somebody will get a franchise, more of a monopoly, we will base our energy plan because of the actuations of this company which later on turn out to be very questionable,” Remulla said.

“We will get in touch with him (Leviste) in case we need him to respond on anything, in case there is a ground for us to start asking him questions. Imagine your energy mix being upset by a single company which acted more like a monopoly during that time,” he added.

In award-winning journalist Jessica Soho’s podcast, Leviste said he is not responsible over non-deliveries and clarified that Solar Philippines is not the same company that he sold to MGEN.

“Wala ‘yung (Solar Philippines) kinalaman sa binenta ko sa Meralco. Ang kumpanyang binenta ko ay publicly-listed, kaya pwedeng tignan lahat ng records noon. Wala pong kinalaman sa kumpanya na nakakuha ng prangkisa (Solar Philippines),” Leviste said. 

(Solar Philippines is not related to the one I sold to Meralco. The company I sold to them is publicly-listed, so you can check the records there. That company has nothing to do with the one that got the franchise.)

He said Solar Philippines already ceased operations because of untenable conditions.

“Iyong kumpanyang ‘yun ay nag-stop na rin ng operations noon pa kasi nakita natin na napakahirap na bumangga sa mga vested interests sa power industry. At ang layunin naman po ng kumpanyang yun ay philanthropic or social impact na magbigay ng serbisyo sa mga lugar na underserved. Pero, natutunan po na muli, pag may mga malalaking problema, may dahilan kaya hindi ito naire-resolba,” Leviste said.

(That company already stopped operations way back because we saw that it is hard to fight the vested interests in the power industry. And the goal of that company is philanthropic or social impact to give services to the underserved. But we’ve learned that if there are big problems, there are reasons why it’s not resolved.) — JMA, GMA Integrated News