EFFECTIVE on Monday (July 9), four commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) are suspended from work, leaving operations of the agency in severe paralysis.
This time, the issue behind the suspension—the second within a year—arose from charges filed by a watchdog accusing the ERC officials of gross neglect of duty in supposedly tolerating an anomaly by distribution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) in the handling of billions of bill deposits, thus leading to consumers allegedly losing P34.84 billion.
The ERC received on Friday night a memorandum from Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea ordering ERC Chairman Agnes VST Devanadera to implement the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to suspend Alfredo Non, Gloria Yap-Taruc, Josefina Asirit and Geronimo Sta. Ana for three months without pay for “neglect of duty.”
“The ERC received the memo on the suspension of the four commissioners from the Office of the Executive Secretary close to 6 p.m. [Friday]. By then, I [had] already left the office. I will be able to serve the suspension on the commissioners only on Monday at the earliest,” said ERC Chairman Agnes Devanadera.
The suspension order, issued on May 18, could only be enforced if Malacañang issues a directive to do so.
The suspension of four commissioners will leave a vacuum of leadership within the agency which is responsible for approving vital power contracts, certificates and other pertinent permits needed before a power project is cleared for commercial operation.
The ERC is the electric power industry regulator composed of four commissioners and one chairman. The collegial body requires the presence of three members in order to issue orders, decisions and resolutions. In this situation, the absence of four of its members leaves the body powerless in making decisions critical to the energy sector.
‘We will comply’
ERC lawyer Rolando Faller said, in a text message, that the commissioners respect the decision of the Office of the President (OP) in implementing the suspension; thus, they will comply.
However, should the Court of Appeals (CA) resolve to grant the commissioners’ application for injunctive relief, they willl inform the OP about it and request that the same be considered in the implementation of the suspension order.
“Effective Monday, July 9, my clients will not hold office for the duration of the suspension period, unless sooner enjoined by the CA,” said Faller.
Two of the four suspended commissioners are scheduled to retire this week. Malacañang has yet to appoint the replacements of Non and Taruc.
The suspended commissioners cannot be replaced as there are no assistant commissioners.
The Ombudsman’s decision stemmed from a complaint filed by the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc. (Nasecore) for syndicated estafa and grave misconduct against officials of Meralco and the ERC commissioners.
Nasecore claimed that consumers were robbed of about P34.84 billion. The group computed that consumers’ deposits reached P61.36 billion from 2006 to 2016, while consumers’ deposits amounted to only P26.5 billion in Meralco’s financial statement.
This is the second time in the past seven months that the Ombudsman has found the same ERC commissioners administratively liable for failing to fulfill their duty to protect the interests of the consumers.
Earlier, when the case was filed against them, the commissioners said they had shown the appellate court the extent they had gone to in order to show their thoroughness in doing their duty to safeguard consumer interest in accordance with their mandate.