Creditor bucks East Asia Diesel rehab

The Philippine Opportunities for Growth and Income Inc. (POGFI) has opposed the petition filed by East Asia Power Resources Corp. for corporate rehabilitation of a subsidiary.

POFGI is one of the creditors of East Asia Diesel Power Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of East Asia Power Resources Corp.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, East Asia said POFGI had sought for a review and the issuance of a writ of temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction with the Court of Appeals in relation to the petition for rehabilitation of East Asia Diesel Power Corp. and affiliate Duracom Mobile Power Corp. with the Malabon Regional Trial Court.

The Malabon RTC has issued an order effectively suspending all claims lodged against East Asia’s power generation unit EADPC and Duracom.

The court has also prohibited EADPC and Duracom from selling, transferring or disposing in any manner any of their properties except in the ordinary course of their business. Both companies are also prohibited from making any payment of liabilities outstanding at the date of filing of the petition.

Aside from this, EADPC’s and Duracom’s suppliers of goods and services are prohibited from withholding supply of goods and services in the ordinary course of business for as long as EADPC or Duracom makes payment for goods supplied after the issuance of stay order.

The filing of the petition for corporate rehabilitation was prompted by the recent aggressive and precipitous actions taken by some of their financial creditors which included the seizure of all their cash deposits.

East Asia said EADPC and Duracom needs to undergo rehabilitation to enable them to resume power supply services and thereby protect the interests of and benefit their stakeholders, employees and the general public.

With a feasible rehabilitation plan in place, East Asia hopes that EADPC will resume full operations in the near future.

East Asia was initially established in 1975 as a mining company under the name Olecram Mining Corp. It ceased commercial operations as a mining firm after a decade and changed its corporate name to Northwest Holdings & Resources Corp. in 1992. Consequently, the company changed its primary purpose from mining to holdings. Again in 1996, the company’s board of directors approved the change of its corporate name to East Asia Power Resources Corp.

The company is now known as one of the country’s independent power producers. It operates power generation facilities in Metro Manila, Bataan, Cebu and Mactan Island. It also has interests in a 24-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Jiangsu Province in the People’s Republic of China.

In addition to its power plant operations, East Asia owns 100 percent of East Asia Power Services, Inc. which offers planning, construction, operation and maintenance consultancy services to other prospective and established power generating facilities.

East Asia also ventured into the transmission and distribution sub-industries of the power sector through the incorporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary, East Asia Transmission and Distribution Corp.