‘You can’t fight City Hall’

By Herbert Vego

THE idiom as originally intended reminds us of the ongoing conflict between the local government of Iloilo City and the defunct power distributor, Panay Electric Company (PECO). It warns of ominous defeat against the city’s bureaucracy.

The city’s legal head, Atty. Edgardo Gil, has warned PECO to pay its overdue franchise taxes amounting to P51.4 million. Otherwise, he would sue the company officials for the crime of syndicated estafa.

PECO had sought temporary relief by seeking a writ of preliminary injunction in court that would prohibit any action while the underlying court case remains to be decided.

Atty. Gil had likewise filed an omnibus motion asking the Regional Trial Court (Branch 31) to dissolve the said writ because the amount demanded belongs to the city.

One would never have imagined PECO defaulting payment.  What is P51 million to a billionaire corporation unless it has gone bankrupt?

But that is hard to believe, considering that until it faded away with the takeover by new franchisee MORE Electric and Power Corp., PECO had been amassing amazing wealth for 96 long years as sole power distributor in Iloilo City .

The plausible explanation is that its management has lost “appetite” to pay. Being no longer in business, PECO has nothing to gain anymore from complying.

PECO could not question the legality of franchise taxes payable to the city. In fact, it had already paid the city the taxes due for the first quarter of 2019. What the city demands  — P51,425,406.37, excluding legal interest and other charges — is the accrued amount for the second, third and fourth quarters.

That amount is peanuts when compared to the “just compensation” that PECO expects to gain from successor MORE Power. It is embedded in the law (RA 11212), granting the latter the next 25-year franchise. The money, a whopping P481,842,450, has been deposited in a bank. PECO may withdraw it upon approval by the presiding judge.

But then, would that amount be enough to refund the bill deposits of the erstwhile PECO customers who are now serviced by MORE Power?

Consequently for humanitarian consideration, MORE Power has refrained from collecting bill deposits from these “inherited” customers.

The Magna Carta for Residential Electricity Consumers, however, requires power users to deposit an amount equivalent to one month’s consumption and to be refunded on demand after three years or upon termination of service.

Thus, the Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) may compel PECO to refund the bill deposits.

Meanwhile, we can’t fault Atty. Gil and city treasurer Jinny Hermano for being “very demanding” to PECO because of the weakened financial capacity of the city due to the exigencies of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Masakit man sa loob ni Ka Jerry, who used to be PECO’s lawyer, wala siyang magagawa kundi ipatupad ang batas.

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G7 TO PROBE COVID-19 ORIGIN

READERS of this column will remember that I have consistently ranted against our  government’s preference for China’s anti-Covid Sinovac vaccine. Why patronize China when she is the source of the virus?

Then, too, there have been reports of Covid-19 infections among the Sinovac-vaccinated, but I would rather not elaborate.  These are very accessible in the newspaper and online reports.

Therefore China may be charged with genocide if it could be proven that the deadly virus had been “engineered” in Wuhan, China for whatever reason.

As of yesterday, Covid-19 cases worldwide had reached 178,394,235, including 3,861,954 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The good news is that WHO has agreed to cooperate with the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations – the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, Italy, and Germany – that have inked a communique  calling for a second investigation into the perceived origins of the coronavirus.

To quote WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation, potentially with additional missions involving specialist experts.”

We hope it’s not true that amigo personal sia ni Xi.

 

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THE LAT TRIANGLE IN ANTIQUE

IN a previous column, this corner echoed the likelihood of lawyer Cornelio “Kune” Aldon running against the incumbent governor.

There seems to be more to it than that, if it is true that the two women leaders of Antique — Congresswoman Loren Legarda and Governor Rhodora “Dodod” Cadiao – are soon ending their political alliance.

Ha? I could not imagine them fighting over whatever spoils.

But my Manila-based friend and fellow Antiqueño Joe Escartin, being a political analyst, sees a “LAT triangle” emerging, referring to Legarda, Aldon and Tajanlangit.

Joe believes that with Loren itching to regain her Senate seat in 2022, she would most likely field her brother Antonio to replace her in the House in a triumvirate with lawyer Cornelio “Kune” Aldon for governor and SP member Julius Tajanlangit for vice-governor.

I have to scratch my head though because an earlier “news feed” had alluded to the preservation of the Legarda-Cadiao alliance; and so Kune Aldon would likely run for congressman against Antonio Legarda.

But now, if Aldon challenges the governor instead, how probable is the possibility that most of the 18 incumbent mayors and certain “disgruntled contractors” would support him?

Wanhaw? Tuod ra nga ginakalokalo sa kapitolyo ang biddings for infrastructure prjects?

Whatever that means, duro ang naga-alegar but nobody wants to be identified.