Good for business

Some who are questioning the President’s recent decisions to remove government appointees from their posts simply because there is an iota of impropriety in their actions and were not given a chance to defend themselves, do not know what they are talking about.

The most recent casualty of President Duterte’s campaign against graft and corruption is Terry Ridon, chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor (PCUP). According to the President, during his over one-year term at PCUP, Ridon travelled abroad several times and seemed to have enjoyed a lavish lifestyle which was inconsistent with his role as head of an urban poor agency.

The President also fired the entire commission which only had one or two meetings as a collegial body.

Ridon is among the left-leaning politicians who joined the Duterte Cabinet. The others are former social welfare secretary Judy Taguiwalo and former agrarian reform secretary Rafael Mariano, who were both rejected by the Commission on Appointments, and National Anti-Poverty Commission head Liza Maza.

In his one and a half years in government, Duterte has also axed other officials, including close allies former National Irrigation Administration (NIA) chief Peter Laviña and former local government secretary Ismael Sueno.

They all serve at the pleasure of the President. With or without due process or a chance to be heard, or with or without cause, they can be removed from their government posts.

In other countries, government officials do not wait for their chief executives to remove them when their names are linked to accusations of graft and corruption.

Even heads of private companies have resigned just because their reputation have been tainted. Last year, the head of Japanese advertising giant Dentsu resigned after he took personal responsibility for the suicide of a junior employee over the company culture requiring staffers to work huge amounts of overtime.

Last October, the Office of the President fired Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chief Jose Vicente Salazar after finding him guilty of the charges of serious dishonesty, gross neglect of duty and violations of Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Government Procurement Reform Act, and Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 or the EPIRA law.

Salazar was accused of bid rigging. He was accused of the anomaly by the late ERC director Francisco Villa Jr. who committed suicide.

And then last Nov. 22, the President appointed former solicitor-general Agnes Devanadera to replace Salazar. Devanadera will serve for a term expiring on July 10, 2022.

Devanadera served as the solicitor general during the administration of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, from 2007 to 2009 before going to the Department of Justice as secretary from 2009 to 2010.

The ERC is tasked with regulating a very vital sector – the power industry. It is tasked with approving or disapproving power rate hikes, and consumers know very well how this affects everything – from the cost of food, to transportation, to salaries and wages especially of those working in the manufacturing sector, to our electricity bills.

On June 8, 2001, RA 9136 or the EPIRA was enacted, abolishing the then Energy Regulatory Board (ERB) and creating in its place the ERC which is a purely independent regulatory body performing the combined quasi-judicial, quasi-legislative and administrative functions in the electric industry.

In its website, the ERC said it is faced with tremendous challenges in the restructured electric industry. In addition to its traditional rate and service regulation functions, ERC shall focus on two primary responsibilities: to ensure consumer education and protection, and to promote the competitive operations in the electricity market.

It added that the ERC endeavors to create a regulatory environment that is democratic and transparent, and one that equitably balances the interests of both the consumers and the utility investors.

Not an easy task, especially with the very powerful and often opposing forces operating in the sector.

An agency, whose reputation has been tainted, needs a fresh start. Industry observers say Devanadera starts with a clean slate and can help restore confidence in the ERC which is suffering from low public trust ratings and even lower employee morale. With her at the helm, we can expect major changes to happen.

There are reports though that Salazar, in his bid to clear his name, will do everything to make a comeback.

He has done so much damage to the ERC. At one point, Congress slashed ERC’s budget to a measly P1,000 for 2018 because of its alleged inefficiency and bad record. This was upon the instructions of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez for the ERC to clean up its act following allegations of corruption in the commission.

There were media reports that even when he was still justice undersecretary and represented the DOJ in the board of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp., Salazar gained the ire of PSALM people for pushing for the inclusion of two ghost employees in the corporate payroll.

And then when he joined the ERC, he continued to illegally appoint officials and employees, influenced internal procurement deals and power agreements to benefit preferred suppliers and friends. It came to a point where ERC director Villa, who was being pressured to approve deals, broke down and killed himself.

Salazar should leave government with whatever remaining delicadeza he has. He is after all still young and can still possibly redeem himself. He should allow Devanadera to clean up the mess he left.

An efficient power sector is good for business, and for the country in general. ERC should be given all the support to be able to do its job well.