Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Saying that the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has been compliant with its franchise requirements, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez questioned the purpose of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises' hearing Tuesday, Jan. 14 on the transmission company. 

"The BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) in the Ways and Means hearing clearly stated that NGCP has been paying all the tax liabilities of the company, and this was confirmed by BIR chief,” Rodriguez said during the hearing.

Rodriguez, a legal luminary in the House of Representatives.said that Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Mona Dimalanta also confirmed that NGCP had been compliant with its tax responsibilities.

"In another hearing, I confirm that what we have seen from our record is that compliant with the three percent franchise tax,” Dimalanta told Rodriguez, referring to the franchise tax granted to NGCP under Republic Act (RA) No. 9511.

"Precisely, that was the issue. NGCP has complied; BIR said NGCP has complied, then why are we here?" Rodriguez asked.

"Are we trying to dissolve the 50-year franchise of NGCP? Is that the reason, Mr. Chairman?" added the veteran legislator from Mindanao.

Rodriguez also defended NGCP from criticism, and said that the grid operator should not be blamed for the five-year delay in the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) as it encountered right of way issues with a golf course.

“We have to look at the reasons. In fact, if we see the reasons for delays in the right of way that can never be secured, it stops the project,” he said.

'Mindanao is connected'

Rodriguez then expressed gratitude to NGCP over the completion of the P52-billion MVIP project. He says more companies are putting up power generation plants in Mindanao because they can now sell to Luzon and Visayas if they have excess capacity.

"Mindanao has been connected to the Visayas in January of 2024; my constituents in Cagayan de Oro, second district would thank the NGCP for finally connecting Mindanao to the Visayas and to Luzon. Why? Because if we need more power from Visayas and Luzon, they can give it to us and if they have excess capacity in Mindanao, we can help the Visayas and Luzon," he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) admitted that delays in transmission projects cannot solely be blamed on NGCP.

“Sa right of way meron pa (There are issues with right of way). There are cases that have pending ERC approval also. It’s a culmination of everything, like sa Panay (like in Panay), there’s an issue with the owner and the DENR,” DOE Undersecretary Sharon Garin said during the hearing of the Committee on Legislative Franchises.

Philreca Party-list Rep. Presley de Jesus welcomed Garin’s pronouncement, and emphasized that it was unfair to place all the blame on NGCP for the project delays.

“In short, hindi lang ito solely fault ng NGCP, just to make it clear...we’re not trying to defend NGCP. We’re trying to level the playing field. Kasi ang dating, kasalanan ng NGCP kung bakit maraming delays (It's being made to appear that the delays are NGCP's fault,” De Jesus said.

“But straight from the horse’s mouth, sabi mo may problema ERC at may pending pa sa korte (you said there were still problems with ERC and there were pending cases in court),” he told Garin.

The legislative franchises hearing was presided by panel chairman Parañaque City 2nd district Rep. Gus Tambunting.

China connection?

But not all congressmen who took part in the hearing were willing to give NGCP a pass.

In particular, Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers wants the panel to determine who truly is in charge of the grid operator--the Filipinos, or the Chinese?

“The reason why I feel that that document is very important in this inquiry is because we like to determine sino ba talaga ang nagko-control ng NGCP? Is it run, controlled, managed, operated by the Chinese? Or is it really the Filipino?” Barbers said, referring to the company's shareholders agreement.

“Very crucial ito (This is very crucial), Mr. Chair, because we like to determine up to what extent thus the foreign incorporators or counterpart have influence over the management operation and control of this corporation,” he added.

Barbers made the query after NGCP lawyer Lilly Mallari failed to submit the shareholders’ agreement among State Grid Corp. of China (SGCP) and its billionaire Filipino-Chinese partners despite the committee’s request.

Mallari responded by informing the hearing committee that an arbitration case pending in Singapore prohibits NGCP from disclosing the shareholders’ agreement.

The committee then issued a subpoena for the document and gave NGCP a week to comply.

NGCP is reportedly owned 40 percent by state-owned Chinese firm SGCP and 60-percent by its Filipino partners.