Social media posts on generator sets prompt denial by solon
SURIGAO CITY—Accusations swirling in social media have prompted a lawmaker here to issue a denial on allegations that he tried pressuring a local power utility into buying overpriced generator sets.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Francisco T. Matugas (first district) issued the denial after an antigraft Facebook group—Sa Ngalan ng Gobyerno or SNG—posted a photo of him with a caption alleging that Matugas was trying to act as a go-between for the purchase of five 2-megawatt generator sets for the Surigao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Surneco).
“Cummings generator sets cost $100,000 per megawatt but the price Matugas wants to buy [them] is at $500,000 per megawatt for a diesel generator set. He is reported to be pressuring the Surigao del Norte Electric Cooperative Inc., officials led by president Mario Gesta to work to secure the 10-MW diesel generator sets,” the posting read.
The SNG post has since gone viral and spilled into other anticorruption Facebook groups, such as Expose Graft and Corruption in Government. Together, both groups have a combined following of 30,000 Facebook users.
Matugas refuted the claims, saying he was not a recipient of any congressional allocation from the Malampaya Fund, whose release the Supreme Court has temporarily stopped, along with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
“I have no funding from the Malampaya Fund before, now or under the proposal for gensets (generator sets),” the lawmaker said in a text message to the INQUIRER, referring to a government program that provides a loan facility to electric cooperatives for the acquisition of modular generator sets.
The lawmaker also denied he was meddling in the affairs of Surneco, whose officials have also come out to deny the social media postings against Matugas.
Surneco general manager Narciso Caliao Jr. confirmed the utility’s plan to buy five gensets at 2-MW each using the Malampaya-funded loan facility, amid the uproar generated by the daily power outages in the province.
Caliao said they were looking at spending some P160 million for the generator sets.
Caliao denied that Matugas had exerted pressure or influence on the Surneco board about the planned generator purchase.
Dubbed as “Mindanao Modular Generator Sets Program” and established through Executive Order No. 137 in July, the program has a P4.5-billion funding from the government share in Malampaya gas proceeds.
Matugas described the negative online postings about him as “political disinformation.”
The lawmaker also attributed to “political harassment” the plunder case filed against him by local citizens early this year. The plunder charge is based on a Commission on Audit (COA) report that said Matugas had earmarked some P64 million of his PDAF as intelligence funds for local government officials.
Matugas is among those implicated in the irregular use of PDAF among lawmakers after a COA report showed that he endorsed close to P19 million of public funds to questionable nongovernment organizations.