Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta has asked the Office of the Ombudsman to reconsider its suspension order.
Dimalanta acknowledged in a television broadcast Thursday she still has to secure a copy of the complaint that became the basis for her suspension.
“I have not seen it yet but I filed through my lawyers yesterday a motion for reconsideration of the order. The order was served to me on Monday. Based on the order, we were able to prepare and file a motion for reconsideration,” Dimalanta said.
According to Dimalanta, the day-to-day operations at the commission remain uninterrupted even with the Ombudsman order although matters requiring commission meetings have stalled as only the ERC chief can call for or convene a meeting.
Power supply agreements and the Department of Energy’s Green Energy Auctions (GEA) program will also be affected.
“(The DOE is) supposed to conduct one (GEA) this quarter and another early next year. We were supposed to set parameters for pricing. That one I am really worried about,” Dimalanta said.
“We have invited huge investors to the auctions. We want to assure them that these things will continue and we have a stable investment climate in the Philippines that they can bank and rely upon,” Dimalanta further said.
Dimalanta also said the regulator has a backlog of pending cases whose number helped trigger the filing of alleged inefficiency complaints at the ERC.
“I have inherited 10-years worth of backlogs. We’ve been doing a lot of catchup… I think we have been doing well before this development,” Dimalanta said.
