Enron was investigated for alleged stock fraud by US government regulators after it filed the largest bankruptcy case in US history last year.
Perez told reporters yesterday that the panel tasked by President Arroyo to review the IPP deals should examine the Enron subsidiary’s contract.
Perez declined to identify the subsidiary, in deference to the government panel led by Finance Secretary Jose Camacho.
"Of course, I remember (the name). But now that I am the secretary of justice, perhaps I should leave it to them because I wouldn’t want those checking those contracts to prejudge the case," he said.
In 1993, Perez, then a Batangas congressman, delivered two privilege speeches criticizing two IPP contracts which, he claimed, were "onerous" because the state-run National Power Corp. (Napocor) was "paying much more than what we are getting for the power they’re buying from IPPs."
One of the two IPPs was the Enron subsidiary and another which Perez now said he couldn’t remember. The Enron subsidiary’s 10-year contract was signed in late 1992 or early 1993.
In his speech, Perez compared the Enron subsidiary’s contract with that of Alsons, a local firm.
"But while Enron’s contract charges Napocor P2.0115 per kilowatt hour, Alsons’ contract charges at a much lower rate at P1.46761. Please note that the cost difference is a sharp P0.5354," Perez told Speaker Jose de Venecia then.
"They (the IPP review committee) should look into it and find out if my apprehensions then were valid and supported by facts," Perez told reporters yesterday. "I believe that my statements then are valid and should be looked into."
The committee is expected to complete its findings by June.
Meanwhile, Sen. John Osmeña wants former President Fidel Ramos to explain how Filipinos ended up paying more than what they should for electricity.
Osmeña yesterday called on the Senate committee on energy to summon Ramos and have him shed light on the government’s contracts with independent power producers (IPPs), reached at the height of a power crisis in the early 1990s.
Yesterday, ousted President Joseph Estrada made a similar call, urging Congress to investigate the contracts. Aside from Ramos, Estrada also accused his successor, President Arroyo, of entering into a similar contract.
Perez, a member of the review panel, said Ramos should not be blamed for the contracts, citing the urgent need for Ramos to solve the power crisis at the time.
Sen. Renato Cayetano, chairman of the Senate committee on energy, said he would invite Ramos later after his panel has finished work on a bill aimed at lowering electricity charges.
Cayetano said such an inquiry might delay passage on Senate Bill 2109, on which his panel is in the midst of deliberations.
Authored by Cayetano, SB 2109 seeks to reduce the controversial purchased power adjustment (PPA) charge from the current P1.25 per kilowatt hour to 40 centavos effective January 2003.
Osmeña, the committee’s former chairman, said Ramos is the best person who can give the details on the contracts that obliged the state-run National Power Corp. (Napocor) to buy all the power generated by the IPPs whether it uses it or not.
Senate President Franklin Drilon and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. support Osmeña’s call to invite Ramos.
Drilon pointed out that most of the contracts were signed during Ramos’ term but said they were necessary because of the urgent need for power at the time.
When Ramos took over in mid-1992, the country was suffering from a crippling power crisis that plunged the country into blackouts that lasted at least eight hours daily.
"Decisions were made based on the projected needs of the country. Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be what was projected," Drilon said. Now the time has come for Ramos to explain what happened, Drilon said. "Nobody is being charged here."
Pimentel said Estrada should also be invited because some of the IPP contracts, he said, were signed during the latter’s brief stint in Malacañang.
While open to this suggestion, Drilon said he’d rather take it one step at a time. "Let’s go deeper into these IPP contracts and let’s withhold judgment as to who we will call," he said.
Last Monday, Mrs. Arroyo cleared Ramos of any wrongdoing. Ramos explained to her, Mrs. Arroyo said, that most of the contracts were signed under the assumption that the country’s economy would later take off and need adequate power supply.
But the 1997 Asian financial crisis torpedoed the anticipated economic recovery, Mrs. Arroyo said. She then blamed her predecessor, Estrada, for failing to get the economy going.
Hounded by corruption allegations for much of his brief presidency, Estrada was later ousted by a military-back popular protest in January 2001 triggered by corruption charges.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to bring electricity charges further down, Mrs. Arroyo issued an executive order reducing government royalties on the development of indigenous energy sources such as natural gas and geothermal energy.
Under Executive Order No. 100, dated May 3, 2002, royalties on indigenous energy sources would be reduced to achieve parity with royalties on imported energy fuels such as crude oil.
Since Napocor sources its electricity from natural gas and geothermal energy, this should translate into lower electric bills.
Under Executive Order No. 100, the "[Energy Regulatory Commission] shall reduce the rates of power from all indigenous energy sources to reflect the reduction in royalty, thus ensuring lower rates for end-users of indigenous energy sources."
Last week, Mrs. Arroyo ordered a reduction of the PPA from P1.25 per kilowatt hour to 40 centavos. With reports from Jose Rodel Clapano, Donnabelle Gatdula, Marichu Villanueva