Suspension of ERC commissioners

The commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) are deeply saddened by the order of the Office of the Ombudsman suspending them for three months as a penalty for simple neglect of duty on the issue of bill deposits. The commissioners maintain that there is no basis for such a finding and that there has never been any neglect of duty on their part.

There are existing regulations put in place by the Commission regarding bill deposits being enforced to protect the public. One of them is the Magna Carta on the Rights of Electricity Consumers (MREC) wherein consumers are granted the right to demand the return of the deposit and the distribution utilities cannot ignore the said demand.

Notwithstanding the existence of these policies, the Commission has been evaluating them beforehand and have actually been working on the review of the policies in question. Hence, as a result of the prior assessment and internal discussions in the Commission, the following were undertaken:

On May 30, 2017, the Commission posted in its official website the initial draft of the “Rules to Govern the Monitoring and Reporting Process of Bill Deposits” docketed as ERC Case No 2017-006 RM. The Commission ordered all interested parties to submit their comments on the said draft rules on or before June 15, 2017.

After considering all the comments submitted, the Commission issued the second draft of the rules. The draft was posted in the Commission’s website on Oct. 2, 2017. In its “notice,” the Commission solicited comments from all interested parties giving them until Oct. 31 to submit their comments.

In the intervening period, several letters/ communications were exchanged among Department of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, Undersecretary Pete Ilagan (also affiliated with the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms) to update them on the progress of the public consultations.--Gerry D. Sta. Ana, ERC commissioner

Asturias bridge

The aging steel bridge in Bago, Asturias town and whose photo came out in the June 19, 2018 issue of SunStar Cebu, was constructed during the term of then Public Works secretary Mariano Jesus Cuenco (1996 –1939).

During the bridge’s construction, the supervising engineer, a certain Aguino, stepped on the unnailed lumber, fell down on the rocks and died on the spot. Somebody accidentally offered his life for this bridge. The bridge is presently undergoing rehabilitation.

The then undefeated mayor Fabian Galo Aguanta sought the construction of this bridge in 1936.--Guillermo