Gov’t to take back control of NGCP ‘if necessary’ — Malacañang
MANILA, Philippines — The government will be taking back control of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) “if necessary,” Malacañang said Wednesday.
“If necessary, the government will take back control of the entity,” the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement, referring to the private company that was established in 2009 to operate the country’s power grid.
Malacañang’s statement came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sen. Raffy Tulfo’s meeting at the presidential palace on Monday during which the lawmaker expressed concerns about the issues hounding NGCP, including its being partly owned by a Chinese state company.
The Palace said Marcos agreed with the proposal of Tulfo, who chairs the Senate energy panel, to conduct a comprehensive study on the NGCP or hold hearings to determine the real situation of the power grid.
A press statement from Tulfo’s office released earlier said Marcos agreed to the senator’s suggestions, one of which was for the government to take back control of the operations of the power grid.
The Department of Energy proposed during a hearing at the House of Representatives on Tuesday amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to prohibit foreign governments or state-owned enterprises from owning a stake in transmission operations.
Tulfo had proposed to return the operation of the transmission grid to the government-owned and controlled National Transmission Corporation (TransCo), while its maintenance is left to the NGCP.
TransCo operated the power grid from March 2003 until January 2009, when operations and maintenance of it were transferred to the NGCP, 40% of which is owned by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), while the remaining 60% is owned by a group of Filipino businessmen led by tycoons Henry Sy Jr. and Robert Coyiuto Jr.
Tulfo and a handful of other senators are calling for the re-nationalization of the power grid, although Sen. Francis Escudero warned that this might send a bad signal to foreign investors.
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