The six-month suspension of Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Monalisa C. Dimalanta had been cut short, and she is now poised to be back at the helm of the power industry’s regulatory body.

A memorandum order from the Office of the Ombudsman dated October 22, 2024 stipulated that the suspension has been “lifted and respondent Monalisa Dimalanta, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the ERC, is ordered reinstated effective immediately.”

The order was signed by Deputy Ombudsman Dante F. Vargas; and this was also immediately furnished to the Office of the President, through the Office of Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin.

The Ombudsman’s office directive noted that “after a thorough evaluation of the present case records, this Office finds that the ground which justifies the continued imposition of preventive suspension no longer exists.”

It added that in view of such ruling, “the preventive suspension is no longer necessary.”

The ERC chief’s suspension was meted out on the August 20, 2024 decision of the Ombudsman’s office, and Dimalanta temporarily left her function as ERC chief on September 9 this year.

The Ombudsman’s office qualified that “the primordial purpose in the imposition of the preventive suspension is to temporarily remove respondent from office during investigation to preserve documents and evidence pertaining thereto, which respondent has control custody.”

It expounded “this office notes that with respondent’s filing of counter-affidavit, which to date complainant (National Association of Electricity Consumers  for Reforms Inc. or Nasecore) has not filed any reply, shall be deemed a waiver to file such responsive pleading and to submit additional documentary evidence.”

On issuing the latest memorandum, the Ombudsman’s office  specified that “the Office of the President, is hereby furnished a copy of this Order for his immediate implementation, with the request to inform this Office within three (3) days from receipt of the action taken.”

Department of Justice Undersecretary Jesse Hermogenes Andres, who is also the Executive Director of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), had been named officer-in-charge (OIC) at the ERC during roughly two months of Dimalanta’s absence.

A subsequent statement from the ERC affirmed that the Executive Secretary’s office had already forwarded the memorandum, adding that this development “would ensure the stability within the agency and the energy industry as a whole.”

The regulation agency similarly sounded off its appreciation to Andres “whose brief stint helped steer the agency through a critical period.”

The ERC reiterated that with Dimalanta’s return, the regulatory body will forge ahead on “its commitment to fulfilling its mandate as the country's energy regulator,” while giving assurance that “all operations of the Commission will remain unhampered and will continue to function to the extent possible and as required by the exigencies of service.”