Napocor justifies repair of 2 plants

Officials of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) justified before a joint Senate panel yesterday the rehabilitation of its Kalayaan 1 and 2 power plants, saying it is necessary to keep the Luzon power grid from suffering any serious power outages.

Asiselo Gonzaga, president of the National Transmission Co. (Transco) and former chief operating officer of Napocor, also justified his signing of a certificate of completion on the rehabilitation of the power plants by the Argentine firm Industria Metalurgica Pescarmona SA (Impsa).

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee headed by Sen. Joker Arroyo and the committee on government corporations and public enterprises headed by Sen. John Osmeña, were hearing the charges of Sen. Sergio Osmeña III in a privileged speech that Napocor overpaid Impsa for the "unnecessary" rehabilitation of Kalayaan 1 and 2, consequently increasing the purchased power adjustment (PPA) charged to Filipino customers.

Osmeña had claimed that Gonzaga signed the certificate of completion even if Gonzaga had no jurisdiction over generating plants.

Gonzaga, however, maintained that he signed the certificate of completion not only as president of Transco but as chief operating officer of Napocor.

"Transco has jurisdiction over the CBK project," Gonzaga said, referring to Calauag, Botokan and Kalayaan projects.

He also expressed the belief that he did not need any board resolution to sign that certificate of completion.

In his privileged speech, Osmeña claimed that Gonzaga’s certification on the completion of the rehabilitation of Kalayaan 1 and 2 paved the way for the payment of Impsa "ahead of schedule."

He said that some Napocor engineers claimed that Gonzaga signed the certificate of completion "in spite of the fact that the spillway at Lake Caliraya, part of the rehabilitation package, is only 50-percent complete." – Efren Danao