A South Cotabato regional trial court has dismissed a petition seeking to overturn the South Cotabato Electric Cooperative II (SOCOTECO II) board’s rejection of Manila Electric Co.’s proposed joint venture, ruling that the dispute falls under the jurisdiction of the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
In a six-page decision dated June 5, Regional Trial Court Branch 62 Assisting Judge Vicente Andiano said plaintiff Rogelio Garcia “miserably failed” to prove that he had exhausted available administrative remedies before bringing the case to court.
The court stressed that disputes involving the board and members of a private electric cooperative are matters that must first be resolved by the NEA under Presidential Decree No. 269.
“It would be premature for the plaintiff to seek redress from this Court without first raising such issues with the administrative agency,” the ruling stated.
Garcia had sought to nullify SOCOTECO II Board Resolutions Nos. 19, 20 and 28, which rejected Meralco’s unsolicited joint venture proposal after finding several inconsistencies, including a corporatization model that the cooperative said was incompatible with its member-owned structure.
The resolutions, endorsed by the NEA in March, instead granted conditional acceptance to Primelectric’s IGNITE Power modernization proposal for the electric cooperative, which serves General Santos City, Polomolok and parts of South Cotabato and Sarangani.
The court also rejected Garcia’s claim that bringing the dispute before the NEA would have been futile because of alleged collusion between the agency and the cooperative’s board, saying the accusations were unsupported by facts and law.
Meanwhile, Ignite Power legal officer Allana Mae Babayen-on clarified that no final negotiations have been conducted, adding that any partnership with SOCOTECO II will still require the approval of the cooperative’s member-consumer-owners through a democratic vote.
