By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter
A TAGUIG CIty regional trial court on Wednesday stopped Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from proceeding with its bidding process for 600-megawatts (MW) and 400-MW power supply.
“There exists an extreme urgent necessity for the writ as to warrant the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent further damages to the plaintiffs’ interests, the government and the environment,” Executive Judge Byron G. San Pedro said in a five-page order.
Meralco was also ordered to post a P5-million TRO bond.
The power distributor earlier invited bids for a contract capacity of 600 MW, which is set to take effect in September 2025. The bid deadline was set for Aug. 2. It also invited bids for an additional contract capacity of 400 MW, effective September 2025.
Jose Ronald V. Valles, Meralco senior vice-president and head of Regulatory Management, said they had yet to receive a copy of the order.
“We would like to stress, however that all competitive selection processes for our supply requirements are done in accordance with existing rules of the Department of Energy and Energy Regulatory Commission,” he told reporters in a Viber group chat.
“It is our mandate to ensure that we conduct these in a timely manner, as delays will expose our consumers to unnecessary burden in the billions of pesos in the form of higher power rates,” he added.
Members of the Malampaya consortium, Enrique K. Razon-owned Prime Energy Resources Development B.V., UC38 LLC, Prime Oil and Gas, Inc., and PNOC Exploration Corp. had sought the restraining order, saying the bid terms violate the preference given to indigenous natural gas under the law.
The plaintiffs also said the contracts threaten the Philippines’ energy security and sovereignty.
“Imported fuel products are notoriously unstable and extremely subject to external shocks in the market,” they said. “These price instabilities will hence be built into the fabric of our energy situation, resulting in less energy security and less energy sovereignty.”
They said the contracts threaten state revenues because under Service Contract 38, the government is entitled to 60% of the Malampaya project’s net proceeds.
“Allowing the current bidding processes to proceed, resulting in the award of in favor of coal as a fuel source, will subject the country to a 15-year reliance on coal, which would significantly contribute to further environmental degradation and exacerbate the adverse impacts of coal usage on air quality and climate change,” they added.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
