‘TOO HOT TO HANDLE’: Another judge drops MORE-PECO expro case

By Francis Allan L. Angelo and Emme Rose Santiagudo

Iloilo Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 35 Judge Daniel Antonio Gerardo S. Amular finally inhibited from hearing the controversial expropriation case filed by MORE Electric and Power Corp. against Panay Electric Co. (PECO) in its bid to take over power distribution services in Iloilo City.

According to sources from the Hall of Justice, Amular issued an order on Jan 15, 2020, expressing his desire to inhibit from the case after consultation with RTC Executive Judge Victor Gelvezon.

On Jan 16, Judge Gelvezon ordered the RTC Clerk of Court to re-raffle the case following Amular’s inhibition.

The case was re-raffled at 2 p.m. Monday and it was assigned to the sala of RTC Branch 33 Judge Ma. Theresa Gaspar.

As of this writing, Daily Guardian is still waiting for the official statements of MORE Power and PECO on this latest development.

A source from PECO confirmed Amular’s decision to let go of the case but asked for time before issuing a formal reaction.

The legal team of MORE Power refused to react or comment in the meantime.

With Amular letting go of the case, Judge Gaspar will be the fourth judge to handle the controversial case.

MORE filed the expropriation case in March 2019 after securing its legislative franchise via Republic Act 11212 to distribute electricity in Iloilo City a month before.

PECO’s franchise expired in January 2019.

In a petition filed before the Iloilo Regional Trial Court, cited RA 11212 and Rule 67 in accordance with Sec. 2 of the Revised Rules of Court to assert its authority “to take possession of, exercise control over, and manage and operate” all the power distribution assets in Iloilo City.

MORE Power said the expropriation of PECO’s assets in its favor will allow it to “immediately address and correct poor services, overcharging, frequent brownouts, expensive rates, old and unsafe facilities and practices, and other service deficiencies that this city’s power users and consumers had long suffered”.

MORE Power said it was ready to immediately provide the estimated total value of PECO’s assets at more than P480 million.

MORE Power also maintained that the assets they seek to control are already public property as consumers have repaid PECO for its investments.

It cited Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), which states that “the costs for the acquisition, construction, and establishment of the power distribution system were allowed to be recovered through the retail rate approved by the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission).”

“Considering that the retail rate already covers the capital recovery of the defendant, these power distribution system assets are no longer purely private but are vested with public interest. Moreover, electricity is a basic necessity whose generation and distribution is imbued with public interest,” the complaint added.

PECO questioned MORE Power’s franchise with the Mandaluyong City RTC which granted its petition but the Supreme Court later restrained the Mandaluyong court’s decision.

The expropriation case was first assigned to RTC Branch Branch 37 Judge Yvette Marie Go.

Go later temporarily assigned the case to pairing Judge Gelvezon when she went to Australia for study leave.

When Judge Go returned home, she issued on Aug 14, 2019 the writ of possession to MORE, saying that “the Complaint for Expropriation is sufficient in form and substance,” essentially green-lighting the takeover.

But Judge Go later inhibited from the case and it was re-raffled to Judge Amular.

Amular was not spared from the attendant controversies of the case after MORE Power filed administrative charges against him before the Supreme Court for perceived bias in favor of PECO, charges which the judge denied.

With the flurry of suits filed by MORE Power and PECO against each other in the local, appellate and even Supreme Court, Judge Amular suspended the hearing on the expropriation case in November 2019 until all other controversies were resolved.

Judge Amular later reacted to the case filed by MORE Power saying the expropriation suit has become too politicized and should be transferred outside Iloilo.