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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
THE Office of the Ombudsman will start its probe
of charges that the National Power Corp. (Napocor), through its
president Cyril del Callar, billed consumers P10 to P20 more per
kilowatt hour through collusion and creating artificial supply
shortage to recover about P9 billion in stranded costs.
Del Callar and other Napocor officials are
facing charges of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices
Act, the Code of Ethical Standards for Public Officials and
Employees, and the Government Procurement Reform Act.
Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni over the
weekend said they are also studying if they could consolidate the
case with the other complaints lodged against del Callar.
Several consumer groups led by the People
Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates (POWER) filed criminal and
administrative charges against del Callar and other Napocor
officials over the alleged price manipulation done by Napocor in the
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and the “emergency
purchases” amounting to P665 million made by Napocor in April, May
and July of 2007 due to alleged shortage in the supply of coal for
their power plants.
They charged that Napocor purchased coal at
twice the prevailing market prices, which was grossly
disadvantageous to consumers. They further claimed that with the
higher generation charge caused by the coal the purchase overprice,
Napocor subsequently increased its charges.
“The price manipulation at the WESM pushed
generation rates even higher,” POWER said.
Electricity rates are expected to rise even
higher through May.
The other complainants against the Napocor
officials were the Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya
para sa Sambayanan and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. The case was
filed before the Ombudsman anticipating the higher power rates at
the WESM for the first quarter of 2008.
Besides del Callar, other Napocor officials who
were charged were Eduardo Eroy Jr., vice president for Logistics;
Juan Carlos Guadarrama, chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee;
and Urbano Mendiola, head of the Mancom Secretariat.
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