NGCP spends P448 million on ads, entertainment

PAGADIAN CITY – Senator Risa Hontiveros questioned the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP)’S multimillion peso expenses on advertisements and entertainment, saying these should not be shouldered by consumers as they are not critical to power transmission operations.

“It was puzzling to see items such as advertisements, representation and entertainment in NGCP’S expenditures. Not only that, they also spent almost half a billion pesos on them. Ano’ng kinalaman nito sa transmission? Are these expenses critical part of their business?” she asked.

During the Senate probe on recent rotational blackouts in Metro Manila and other parts of the country, Hontiveros revealed that NGCP spent an accumulated amount of P369 million on “Representation and Entertainment” in 2017 and 2018 and another P79 million was also spent for “Advertising” in the same time period.

“I wonder kung ordinaryong consumer din ba ang nagbabayad nito under the Energy Regulatory Commission regulation? Ipinasa rin ba ito sa ating mga kababayan? Parang hindi naman yan makatarungan,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros emphasized that while NGCP has been spending big on advertisements and entertainment, the national power grid has been negligent in getting the transmission development plan approved and failing to properly carry out grid improvement projects.

“May tinira ba silang pera para ma-upgrade ang national grid natin? Nasunod ba nila ang Grid Development Plan? May 71 delayed at 83 uncompleted transmission projects. Mukhang sa ibang bagay sila abala at ang mga dapat nilang sini-serbisyuhan, taon-taon na lang nagtitiis sa blackouts at pass on charges,” she said.

Last year, Hontiveros also revealed that NGCP’S shareholders have already divided among themselves a total of P187.8 billion in corporate dividends in just 10 years of their 25-year contract to run the country’s power transmission system.

She has also been calling for the ERC to immediately peg a more conscionable rate of the Weighted Average Cost of Capital or the return a company expects on its capital investment, adding, NGCP enjoys an excessive rate of 15% as opposed to the global average rate of 7% and this contributes to the cost of electricity consumers have to pay.

“Huwag tayong magbulag-bulagan sa mga isyung ito at hayaan na lang gatasan nang gatasan ang mga Pilipino. Isa lang ang malinaw sa ngayon, kailangan na nating simulang pag-aralan kung paano bawiin sa NGCP ang control ng ating power grid,” Hontiveros said.

The NGCP consortium, which holds the 25-year concession contract and the 50-year franchise to operate the power transmission network, is comprised of Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. led by Henry Sy, Jr., Calaca High Power Corporation led by Robert Coyiuto, Jr., and the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) as technical partner.

China controls four of the ten NGCP board seats and represented by Zhu Guangchao, the Vice Chief Engineer and Director General of International Cooperation Department of the SGCC; Shan Shewu, Director General of the Philippine Office of SGCC and Board member of State Grid International Development; Liu Ming, the SGCC Chief Representative of China’s Africa Office; and Liu Xinhua, an engineer with a master’s degree and a topnotcher in the CPA Board Examination in China. (Mindanao Examiner)