Leandro Leviste faces legal action from DOE over solar energy commitment

The Department of Energy (DOE) has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice against Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste and five officials of the Solar Para sa Bayan Corporation (SPBC) for alleged violations of the Public Service Act.

According to the complaint, the firm failed to construct and provide electric power to customers and end users in remote, unviable, unserved, or underserved areas as provided under the company’s 2019 franchise, which Congress granted under Republic Act No. 11357.

The complaint identified Leviste as the firm's chairman, president, chief executive officer, and director.

The other respondents are directors Antonio C. Legarda, Sr., Benjamin C. Legarda, Antonio B. Legarda, Jr., Irma C. Flaminiano, and Hazel Iris P. Lafuente, who was also its corporate secretary and treasurer.

“As evidenced by the certification issued by the DOE, it has no record of receipt of any application by SPSB/SPBC for permits, licenses, approvals, authorizations, or similar regulatory consents to fulfill its obligation under RA No. 11357," read the complaint, signed by Energy Secretary Sharon Garin.

Sought for comment, Leviste said DOE’s allegations are baseless and a threat to public entities, including media organizations.

“The only complaint I’ve seen is from the media, and based on that, I can say: super duper hina,” Leviste said.(The complaint is very weak.)

Leviste said the DOE suit sets a precedent for future administrations to file nuisance complaints against officers and directors of public utilities in the Philippines.

Garin said in the complaint that the only application the DOE received was for a Solar Energy Service Contract for the Paluan Solar Project located in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro.

She added that the DOE had no record of a signed renewable energy service contract, "nor of any record of submissions by SPSB/SPBC indicating that it is actually implementing the Solar Energy Service Contract."

Republic Act 11357 granted SPBC a “nonexclusive 25-year legislative franchise to construct, install, establish, operate and maintain in the public interest and for commercial purposes, distributed energy resources and microgrids utilizing renewable energy technology in remote and unviable, unserved, or underserved areas in selected provinces of the Philippines to improve access to sustainable energy."

Garin said that while the same franchise law provides that SPBC’s franchise will be deemed revoked if SPBC fails to operate continuously for two years, it does not erase the fact that SPBC violated the Public Service Act.

She said that the respondents “knowingly and willfully neglected, failed, or omitted to do or perform its obligation under the legislative franchise to provide electric power to customers and end users in remote, unviable, unserved, or underserved areas.”

“The DOE also has no record of receipt of any submission by SPSB/SPBC of reportorial requirements mandated pursuant to DOE policies consistent with the provisions of RA No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) and RA No. 11357," Garin said.

"In this case, SPSB/SPBC, through its board of directors and corporate officers, neglected, failed, and omitted to construct, install, establish, operate, and, much less, maintain electric power to customers and end users in remote and unviable, unserved, and/or underserved areas, as provided in Section 1 of RA No. 11357,” she added.

Garin said that Leviste admitted that his company failed to deliver on its promises in various television interviews by saying that the company has ceased operations and has no franchise to operate anymore.

She cited the Department of Energy Act of 1992 which mandates the DOE to enforce compliance with energy laws, including initiating legal actions against entities that violate regulations related to energy resources and projects, as well as Public Service Act which regulates public utilities in the Philippines.

“The DOE, pursuant to Section 3 of RA No. 11659 (Public Service Act), is among the administrative agencies to which the powers and duties of the Public Service Commission have been transferred," Garin said.

"Such powers and duties include jurisdiction and supervision over all public services, including public utilities, and their franchises, equipment, and other properties, and in the exercise of its authority, the necessary powers and the aid of public force," she added.

"By virtue of my authority as the Secretary of Energy, I am executing this Complaint-Affidavit to attest to the truth of the foregoing,” Garin said. –NB, GMA News