TWO retired chief justices will join the newly-created advisory panel that will assist the Department of Energy (DOE) on energy law reform and various energy-related legal matters.
On Thursday, DOE Secretary Raphael Lotilla announced the creation of an advisory panel composed of distinguished senior legal advisors from the private sector. “These distinguished Senior Legal Advisors from the private sector are Retired Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban and Retired Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno,” Lotilla said during a news conference.
“Retired Chief Justice Panganiban and Retired Chief Justice Puno have kindly agreed to be the co-chairs of the DOE’s Law and Energy Advisory Panel. They will serve as private citizens and will not assume any public office,” he added.
The functions of the Law and Energy Advisory Panel are focused on advising the DOE on various energy-related reform initiatives and legal matters, including the promotion of indigenous as well as low-carbon sources. The proposed initial discussions will cover legal issues involving the country’s upstream oil and gas sector, including the country’s biggest gas-to-power initiative to date—the Malampaya-Camago project. It will also advise the DOE on the objectives, content, and overall substance of the energy sector’s legislative agenda that cover alternative and new technologies.
“We want to make sure that the recommendations to the President and Congress coming from DOE are fully grounded on [the] Constitution, laws of land and sound legal principle. The full legal responsibility and accountability will continue to reside in the DOE,” Lotilla said.
The Panel will also advise the DOE on the enhancement of its legal processes to help achieve its mandate of improving the people’s welfare in the energy sector and encourage investments, especially from the private sector, towards ensuring an affordable, sufficient, and sustainable energy supply for the Filipino people.
He said the legal cluster of the Cabinet has looked at the issues emanating from the JapEx (Japan Exploration Co. Ltd.)-Supreme Court ruling way back in 2015.
The SC had declared Service Contract (SC) 46 between the government and JapEX as unconstitutional because it was signed by the DOE Secretary and not by the President.
“If you revisit the JapEx case, Service Contract 46 was signed by Secretary Vince Perez, my predecessor, and was only decided by the Supreme Court in 2015. In 2015, the SC said the contract was void because the president did not sign it herself. We have to address that legal uncertainty.
“That’s already seven years in effect but it is retroactive to all the previous service contracts that were signed after the 1987 constitution. Up to last year, the only service contract ever signed by the President is the SC38, which is the Malampaya signed by former President Cory Aquino,” he said.
Lotilla stressed that the President must personally sign the service contracts in order to be valid. He said the legal cluster concluded that incumbent President Marcos may approve and sign service contracts that remain effective and were issued since the 1987 Constitution was entered into force.
Also, the energy chief said the private service contractors would have to be consulted on whether they are amenable to this re-submission for the President’s approval and signing of energy contracts. “It’s a case where we want to assist the private sector in order to stabilize precisely the legal framework under which they operate. For as long as we do not address this, there will be legal uncertainty on whether or not their service contracts are valid or not,” he pointed out.