Singson moves to Meralco
ROGELIO L. SINGSON, the Public Works secretary during the Aquino administration, has been appointed in key positions in Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and its power generation arm, the distribution utility told the stock exchange on Monday.
Meralco said the company’s board of directors, in a regular meeting on Monday approved the appointment of Mr. Singson as senior vice-president of the company.
He was also appointed president and chief executive officer of Meralco Powergen Corp. (MGen), the utility’s subsidiary involved in several pending power plant projects.
Meralco said Mr. Singson’s appointment would take effect on Sunday, Oct. 1. The company did not immediately reply when asked to comment on the appointment. MGen also did not reply to a request for comment.
Prior to his appointment to MGen, Mr. Singson was president and CEO of Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), which operates and maintains Light Rail Transit Line 1.
LRMC is a joint venture of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation’s Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation, Ayala Corporation’s AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation, and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure’s Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.
Mr. Singson’s entry in MGen comes at a time when the Meralco unit struggles to have several power supply agreements (PSAs) approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The pending PSAs cover a total of 3,551 megawatts (MW) of new capacity for seven projects, including those under MGen — the 600-MW Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc. and the 1,200-MW Atimonan One Energy, Inc. Financial institutions require the approval of the PSA before releasing funds for the projects.
Meralco is also seeking approval for PSAs with St. Raphael Power Generation Corp., Central Luzon Premiere Power Corp., Mariveles Power Generation Corp., Panay Energy Development Corp. and Global Luzon Energy Development Corp.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
On Monday, shares in Meralco slipped by 1.07% to close at P276.80 each. —