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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Luzon devider Iloilo City officials urge old power utility to stop confusing residents

Iloilo City officials urge old power utility to stop confusing residents

Published Jul 11, 2020 01:46 pm

ILOILO CITY—Officials in this city, including Rep. Julienne Baronda, have called on Panay Electric Co. (PECO), the former power distributing firm of the city, to stop confusing local residents.

Congresswoman Julienne “Jamjam” Baronda of Iloilo City. (Tara Yap/Manila Bulletin)
Congresswoman Julienne “Jamjam” Baronda of Iloilo City. (Tara Yap/Manila Bulletin)

Baronda said PECO has been sowing “confusion as to who is the real and legal distribution utility” as it has been questioning the authority granted to MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) to be the city’s new power utility.

Baronda chided PECO for continuing to raise concerns over its failure to renew its franchise before Congress, while not heeding the lifting of its provisional certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Instead of sowing confusion, the neophyte solon urged PECO to instead wait for the ruling of the Supreme Court over the issue.

 “I pray that PECO will heed the appeal for sobriety and wait for the Supreme Court to decide on the issue it raised on the constitutionality of the law passed by Congress,” Baronda said.

Mayor Jerry Treñas had earlier called on city residents to recognize MORE Power as the legitimate distributor.

On the other hand, Iloilo City Councilor Alan Zaldivar slammed PECO for allegedly recycling an old public criticism against MORE Power President Roel Castro.

“It was a total lie. I have not, in any way, castigated or imputed anything bad against the president of MORE,” Zaldivar said.

Zaldivar explained the quotes attributed to him were already old and made during the time when the Iloilo City Council was not yet aware of the maintenance and upgrading works being done by MORE Power. 

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