Cusi, 4 ex-DOE execs post bail in Malampaya case

MANILA, Philippines — Former Department of Energy secretary Alfonso Cusi and four other former officials of the DOE posted bail for their graft charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman, in connection with the supposed railroaded approval of the sale of substantial shares in the Malampaya gas project to a company owned by Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy in 2019.

Cusi, along with former undersecretaries Donato Dionisio Marcos and Robert Biron Uy, assistant secretary Leonido Jimenez Pulido III and director Cesar Gaba dela Fuente III, posted bail amounting to P90,000 each on Sept. 10, based on an order from the Sandiganbayan Third Division.

They are facing a case of violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, according to a record from the ombudsman’s Office of the Special Prosecutor.

Their arraignment and pre-trial are set on Oct. 1. They were likewise required to appear before the court on Sept. 24, 25 and 26 for the marking of exhibits, stipulation of facts and other matters.

The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), where Cusi serves as acting chairman, earlier confirmed the former energy chief is facing a case with the Sandiganbayan involving the Malampaya gas project.

“It must be emphasized that this is the same case that was previously dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman, which found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of secretary Cusi,” PDP spokesman Ferdinand Topacio previously said.

Topacio said the ombudsman’s reversal of its previous resolution is the subject of their camp’s pending petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.

Records showed the case was filed at the Sandiganbayan on Aug. 28.

It was in 2022 when the ombudsman started its investigation on Cusi and other DOE officials in connection with the sale of the Malampaya shares.

The investigation was spurred by a Senate committee on energy report transmitted by then committee chair Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, which said the DOE supposedly railroaded the approval of the sale of 45 percent interest in the Malampaya gas project of Chevron Malampaya LLC Philippines to UC Malampaya, an indirect subsidiary of Udenna Corp., a company owned by Uy.

The 45 percent shares were sold to UC Malampaya for $545 million.

Gatchalian earlier said the extensive hearings of the Senate committee on energy revealed several irregularities in the DOE’s approval of the sale of the Malampaya shares.

It was earlier reported that Udenna also bought another 45 percent of Malampaya shares held by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. for $380 million, making the Dennis Uy-led company the holder of 90 percent shares in the Malampaya natural gas project.

In 2022, the ombudsman dismissed the graft complaint against Cusi and the other respondents for supposed insufficiency of evidence. It, however, reversed in 2024 its earlier decision, finding there was probable cause to indict Cusi and the other respondents for graft.

This prompted Cusi to file a petition for certiorari before the SC, seeking the nullification of the ombudsman’s 2024 resolution.