By Jennifer P. Rendon
When Congress ended embattled Panay Electric Company (PECO)‘s 95-year stint as the city’s sole utility distributor, it was a victory for anti-PECO advocates.
But that victory was even made sweeter for the four figures behind the “No to PECO Franchise Renewal” after the distribution utility’s charges against them were all dismissed by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In a decision recently penned by DOJ Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento, charges of conspiracy and falsification of public documents filed by PECO against its vocal critics – lawyers Joshua Alim and Plaridel Nava II along with Dr. Marigold Gonzales and Jane Javellana – were “dismissed for utter lack of merit.”
The dismissal is contained in a joint resolution signed by Malcontento, along with DOJ State Prosecutor Gilmarie Fe Pacamarra and Senior State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon on January 20, 2020 but was only made public recently.
The cases were docketed as NPS Nos. XVI-INV-19G-00281 to 00281-A.
In dismissing the case, the three state prosecutors said that the respondents are not liable for the charges noting “it is clear as the day that the respondents did not falsify any document.”
The DOJ officials also noted that Alim and Nava, who were Iloilo City councilors during that time, did not violate any provision of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019), as charged by PECO.
To note, PECO charged the four respondents for initiating a manifesto asking Congress to deny PECO’s franchise renewal.
But PECO claimed the manifesto, which bore 27,000 signatories, was falsified in a bid to favor MORE Power of businessman Enrique Razon.
The company also accused Alim and Nava for violating RA 3019 “because they were both public officers, being incumbent members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod at that time.”
But in their counter affidavit, Alim and Nava said that their action against PECO was in the behest of their role as public officials to act on complaints by consumers on issues of overbilling, billing without reading, inefficient services, including abuses and arrogance of its employees, among others.
Meanwhile, Gonzales and Javellana were charged for allegedly conspiring with the two lawyers to make it appear that the 27,000 signatories to the petition were legitimate, which PECO claimed as “fictitious and untruthful.”
Amid the accusations and counter-accusations, PECO lost its franchise after 95 years in business and was replaced by MORE Power.
Republic Act 11212, which granted congressional franchise to MORE Power, allowed the firm to modify, improve, upgrade, and change the distribution facilities, systems, or the management and maintenance of the distribution facility and to continuously improve its facilities and employ the latest technology and innovations that promote efficiency and is beneficial to consumers.
‘TRUTH HAS PREVAILED’
For Alim, the decision is about the dismissal of the case.
“It is not just ordinary lack of merit but utter or absolute or complete that the charges hurled against us have no basis,” Alim on the dismissal of the case.
He said the dismissal only proved that the “truth prevailed.”
From the very start, he said that PECO has no legal basis in filing the cases.
Instead, Alim labeled it as a mere harassment against them who led a people’s initiative to junk PECO’s service.
If there’s anyone to blame for the franchise non-renewal, it should be PECO, which for years have displayed abuses and arrogance towards its consumers, he added.
“We were just instrument of the people of Iloilo City. We filed the petition in behalf of the consumers but we’re the ones that suffered the consequences. But there’s no regret for that,” he said.
While it was a “sweet victory,” Alim said the DOJ decision is “half-won” for him and Nava.
“There’s still a disbarment case filed by PECO before the Supreme Court. But we are optimistic that we could also hurdle it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nava said the DOJ decision is not just their victory but for thousands of PECO consumers.
Jane Javellana, who is now the Presidential Consultant for Western Visayas, considered the cases lodged against them as nothing but to humiliate but to harass them.
