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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
Malacañang said it is up to newly appointed
Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Zenaida Ducut to
prove or disprove the allegations being hurled by administration’s
critics about her capability to run the regulatory body.
”A lawyer, her qualification can’t be
questioned but on matter of other issues on ERC, that’s something
she herself will have to prove or disprove as acting chairman of ERC,”
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.
Ermita said he hopes Ducut will immediately
investigate the controversial coal supply contract deal between
the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and alleged Ducut relatives.
”Now the cat is out of the bag, I’m very
sure that former congressman Ducut will look into it and any
connection of any of her friends with those details will be coming
out. I’m quite sure she will exert effort to disprove allegations
particularly on her capacity to run the ERC,” he said.
When asked to comment further on the contract
between the Napocor and Transpacific Consolidated Resources Inc.,
which is allegedly owned by Ducut’s kin, Ermita said: “I don’t
have good information on that. I don’t even know with whom they
talked to.”
Allegations denied
Ducut denied allegations that her relatives are
involved in the controversial coal contract even as she vowed to
shield the energy commission from “any political intervention.”
She was reacting to the July 13 column published
in a national daily which alleged that Leslie and Ressie Ducut of
Pampanga were incorporators of Transpacific, which bagged a coal
supply contract with Napocor despite the company being only three
months old and having a paid-up capital of P62,500.
Ducut said she is not related to the Ducuts in
question. State-owned Napocor admitted Monday admitted that it has
awarded a nearly P1-billion coal contract to Transpacific, adding
there was nothing wrong if the company had a paid-up capital of only
P62,500.
Besides the Napocor contract, Ducut’s
appointment became controversial because of her connection to
alleged Pampanga jueteng lord Bong Pineda.
But Ducut said she’s not denying that she
provided legal services to Pineda. “I was once a practicing lawyer
and, during my stint, Bong Pineda was one of my clients. Our lawyer
and client relationship ended in 1995,” she said in one interview.
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