Ferrer: PECO was not given a proper hearing

Following the Senate Committee on Legislative Franchise approving in principle the franchise of More Electric and Power Corporation (More Power), the Panay Electric Company (PECO) is seeking a reversal of the decision, claiming their franchise is “the best” and that the company was not given a proper hearing before the House of Representatives.

“It is just really a matter of explaining that PECO is really the best franchise,” explained PECO legal counsel, Atty. Inocencio Ferrer. “We have the best franchise because we have the 95 years experience.”

“The other applicant [does] not have any experience,” he added.

The attorney also claimed the House of Representatives did not handle PECO’s case adequately, which makes it improper for the Senate to proceed.

“Gagawin naming lahat na makaya naming gawin para ma-convince ang ibang senators na dapat ang bill ng [More Power] ibalik sa Congress kasi hindi naman kami nabigyan ng tamang hearing doon sa hearing sa Lower House (We will do everything we can to convince the other senators that More Power’s bill should be sent back to Congress because [PECO] was not given a proper hearing by the lower house),” Ferrer stated.

He added, the Senate has the ability to conduct their own investigations and can also study if the House followed the correct processes.

The PECO official also argued that More Power is primarily a mining company.

“You have to compare apples to apples,” he said. “[More Power] has never been involved, engaged in electric power distribution.”

Meanwhile, Ferrer acknowledged the technical working group (TWG) created to look into the matter, saying, PECO will wait for their feedback.

“We will wait for the TWG committee report and if the franchise committee approves the recommendation and elevates it,” he said. “We will try our best to get enough votes to overturn the recommendations of the franchise committee.”/WDJ