ILOILO CITY— MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) has taken possession of the main business office of Panay Electric Co. (PECO) here after a court order was implemented Wednesday, January 13.
This was after the sheriff served the supplemental writ of possession (WOP) issued by Judge Victorino Oliveros Maniba Jr. of the Regional Trial Court (RTC-Branch 39).
The WOP issued previously in a September 2020 order granted the expropriation of PECO’s main business office in Gen. Luna Street as well as its staff houses and the canteen.
Wednesday’s development was the latest in the legal battle between the power firm owned by magnate Enrique Razon Jr. and PECO, which is largely owned by the Cacho family of Iloilo.
It was last February 28, 2020 when the sheriff implemented the initial WOP that led to MORE Power taking over the physical possession of PECO’s substations.
The WOP was implemented as stipulated in the February 2019 law that granted MORE Power’s congressional franchise as the new power distributor of Iloilo City.
Unlike the serving of the WOP order last year, Wednesday’s serving of the WOP was smooth. This was largely due to PECO having already vacated the particular main business office late last year.
While the take over was largely peaceful, the police were still deployed in the area.