CRIMINAL and administrative complaints were filed yesterday against Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla before the Office of the Ombudsman.
The DOE chief was accused of giving unwarranted benefit, advantage, and preference to AboitizPower and its unit Therma Visayas Inc. (TVI) for allegedly approving the latter’s expansion of its coal-fired power plant in violation of an existing coal moratorium in effect since 2020.
Among the complainants were party-list group Sanlakas represented by secretary general Jose Aaron Pedrosa Jr. and Cebu chapter head Teodorico JR Duran Navea; Toledo City, Cebu residents Anita Bucao and Paulino Pando, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) chairman emeritus Leody de Guzman, and Power for People Coalition (P4P) convenor Gerard Arances.
Other than seeking Lotilla’s indictment on multiple counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019), the complainants also charged the Energy secretary with administrative offenses for grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.
They noted that TVI started building a 300-MW coal-fired power plant in Brgy. Bato, Toledo City in 2014, announcing that Unit 1 will start commercial operations in December 2017 followed by Unit 2 in March 2018.
Complainants said in the DOE’s List of Existing Power Plants as of March 2024, TVI listed the date of commissioning as April 2019 for Unit 1 and September 2019 for Unit 2.
“Even as Units 1 and 2 of TVI’s coal-fired power project had already come online during 2019, there was no mention of a possible Unit 2,” they pointed out.
On October 27, 2020, then DOE secretary Alfonso Cusi declared a moratorium on greenfield coal projects as part of the government’s effort to promote the development of renewable energy.
The P4P said it sought clarification of the DOE’s policy regarding moratorium exemptions and received a reply dated March 3, 2021.
The DOE’s reply stated that: “Existing power plant complexes with firm expansion plans are those with existing land site provisions for expansion from their existing units; and that they already have allotted and prepared equipment where expansion units can be built within the complex. Expansion projects must be part of the original plan of the existing unit/s and may have not been developed and/or built at the moment due to grid and market conditions.”
But in a newspaper article published on August 14, 2023, an official of AboitizPower announced a plan by TVI to expand by adding a 150 MW unit to supply Cebu’s energy needs.
Complainants noted that in January 2024, the DOE declared that the TVI expansion was exempt from the coal moratorium, saying the expansion plans were firmed up before it came in effect with AboitizPower and that the permits for the project were secured before the DOE announced the moratorium.
However, the complainants pointed out that published documents on the DOE’s own website made no mention of any planned Unit 3.
“As Energy Secretary, Respondent Lotilla should have ensured the strict implementation of the coal moratorium, and that any coal project allowed to proceed should clearly have passed the necessary requirements under the listed exemptions,” the complainants said.
They added that Lotilla acted with manifest partiality in favor of the TVI expansion noting that the DOE chief served as an independent director of AboitizPower as shown in the 2021 Annual and Sustainability Report and AboitizPower’s Profiles of Directors and Board Members.
