Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday called on the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to discontinue paying the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) for projects that are either delayed or have yet to be completed and order the firm to return advance payments it has received.
In an interview with radio dzBB, Gatchalian noted that NGCP has more than 70 unfinished projects, including six of national significance.
Gatchalian said the NGCP, which has control of the power distribution in the country, has been allowed to collect payments from the government even if it has not fulfilled its mandate to finish the projects on time.
“Pero ang kapalit nitong pagkolekta dapat matapos on time ang project. Pero hindi natapos on time. Meron akong nakita noon, apat na taon na hindi pa tapos ang project. So, ibig sabihin nito, kung lalong humahaba ang delay, lalong lumalaki ang kanilang kolekta sa atin at walang natatapos dahil nga kolekta ng kolekta (In exchange for the payment, we expect the the projects to be finished on time. But they have not been finished on time. There is also this project which has been running for four years already. That means, the longer the delay, the bigger amount of money the NGCP is collecting. They have not completed the projects and they keep on collecting and collecting money),” Gatchalian said, who chaired the Senate Committee on Energy during the 18th Congress.
“So, kumbaga mas labis na ang kolekta sa atin kung ikukumpara natin ‘yan doon sa timetable na dapat matapos nila ang projects (It will appear that the amount the NGCP has already collected has exceeded what we should have paid it if we compare it with the timetable when it has to finish the projects),” he added.
Gatchalian suspected the NGCP has been deliberately delaying the completion of projects so it can collect more money from the government.
“Ang ginagawa nila, sa aking pananaw dito at sa aking pag-aanalisa, dine-delay nila ito, parang ginagamit nila ang pera ng taumbayan sa paggawa ng projects. Ngayon, hindi sila natatakot ma-delay dahil simula’t sapul walang penalty na pinapataw sa NGCP mula nang mag umpisa ang NGCP noong 2009 (What they are doing, in my opinion and analysis, is that NGCP is deliberately delaying the projects so it can use the people’s money for its projects. Now, they don’t mind the delays because right from the very start, it has not been penalized since it started operating in 2009),” he said.
Gatchalian said the ERC should be blamed for the irregularities since it did not impose disciplinary sanctions against the NGCP.
He said this is the reason why the ERC should immediately stop paying NGCP for the delayed projects.
“Dahil wala nang punto para mangolekta sila. Kumabaga nangako ka na tatapusin mo ang projects, pinayagan ka naming mangolekta eh ngayon hindi mo tatapusin ang project sa timetable na ipinanangako mo. Bakit pa namin kayo papayagan mangolekta? (There is no more reason for the NGCP to collect funds from the ERC. It promised to finish the projects, the ERC allowed it to collect [money] but it did not finish the projects based on the timetable that it promised. So, why will allow it to collect more?)” Gatchalian said.
The senator said he has asked the ERC to compute how much advance payments it has made to the NGCP for the unfinished projects and order it to refund the government.
“Hindi lang ibalik, dapat i-penalize (It should not only return the money, but its should also be penalized),” he stressed.
Gatchalian said there is nothing wrong for a business corporation to earn big and give big amounts of dividends to its shareholders as long as it performs well on its mandate to evenly distribute electricity nationwide.
With the irregularities, Gatchallian called for a review, and possible revocation, of the NGCP franchise. “Hindi naman nila nagagawa ang trabaho nila, maghanap na lang tayo ng iba na puwedeng mag-operate na mas episyente (Since it cannot do its job right, we might as well look for another company which can operate efficiently),” he said.
