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By Likha Cuevas-Miel, Reporter
It’s not over until it’s over for the chief
of the government pension fund.
Expressing confidence that he will win in the
end, Winston Garcia, the president and general manager of the
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), laid out his gameplan on
his planned takeover of the management of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)
during a briefing late Tuesday afternoon at Crowne Plaza Galleria in
Pasig City.
Garcia said he intends to bring down the cost of
electricity by eliminating “inefficiencies” within Meralco, the
country’s biggest power distributor, and correct the
“mismanagement” of the firm by its current corporate heads by
changing the composition of the board.
“Today is the beginning of the end of Mr.
Manolo Lopez [Meralco chairman]. I see light at the end of the
tunnel because I always believe whatever defiance Meralco had shown
this morning will not last long,” the GSIS chief added.
Part of his plans, he said, is to make Meralco
source 65 percent of its electricity from the National Power Corp. (Napocor)
and 35 percent from independent power producers, or IPPs. The
utility, at present, gets 55 percent of its electricity from
Lopez-owned IPPs.
“With that strategy, we are confident that we
can immediately reduce the cost of electricity per kilowatt-hour
from 10 to 20 percent. That will mean deduction in cost of
electricity from P1 to P2 per kilowatt hour,” Garcia added.
He said he also intends to streamline Meralco by
cutting down the number of personnel that the “bloated” firm has
turned into “mere hecklers.” Garcia added that Meralco’s
customers had been “paying for the expensive bureaucracy” that
the utility’s management is maintaining. He said many of these
employees jeered him during the stockholders’ meeting.
According to Garcia, Meralco has only 1,600
rank-and-file employees but keeps 5,000 supervisors and executives.
This “untenable” situation, he said, has also caused the high
cost of electricity. Besides the high salaries the ordinary
employees and executives receive, Garcia also cited that Meralco
personnel also have a “generous pension plan” that Meralco
customers are also paying for.
“Because of the abusive practices of the
management, [Meralco electricity] is 20 [percent] to 30 percent more
expensive than that in the rest of the country. This is unforgivable
and the sins of the current management must be punished,” the GSIS
chief said. Electric cooperatives distribute electricity in the
provinces.
Garcia added that he has not yet determined the
number of Meralco personnel whom he plans to axe. He reiterated that
the roster at present of 12,000 individuals, including casual
workers, cannot be sustained.
He said he will cite Anthony Rosete, acting
corporate secretary for the Meralco stockholders’ meeting, in
contempt for ignoring a cease-and-desist order from the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
Garcia added that accounting firm SGV will be
held in contempt if it recognizes the contested proxy votes and
defies the restraining order. SGV was designated by Meralco to count
and tabulate the votes from Tuesday’s stockholders’ meeting.
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