In his press briefing, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the responsibility for justifying the move belonged to the Napocor officials.
"We would prefer that the Napocor officials explain this alleged hiring. They might have their reasons for doing so, specifically the expertise of some of the officials involved. We prefer that this be handled by Napocor," he said.
Documents submitted to the Joint Congressional Power Commission showed that the 25 officials were among thousands of Napocor executives and employees who had been paid P12 billion in retirement benefits in preparation for the privatization of the debt-ridden government company.
The bulk of the P12 billion was reportedly funded by loans.
The matter of the Napocor executives supposedly retiring and then rehiring themselves is being investigated by both the Joint Congressional Power Commission and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Sen. Joker Arroyo.
In one hearing, Arroyo told the officials that they violated the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) — the law governing the privatization of Napocor — on two counts.
The act, Arroyo said, required that the funds for the retirement benefits be sourced from the proceeds of the privatization and specifically barred Napocor officials from rehiring themselves.
The continued employment of the retired officials would be at the discretion of the companies who purchased Napocor’s plants and other assets, he explained.
Another senator, Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, has raised questions over the 42-percent rate increase granted to Napocor by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
He said Napocor should open its books to the ERC to reveal how much "delinquent" Independent Power Producers (IPPs) owe the power firm.
Pimentel believes the financial problems of Napocor are due in large part to its supply contracts with the IPPs. He cited the case of Magellan Cogeneration Inc. (MCI) in Cavite.
He said MCI, a subsidiary of US-based Covanta Energy, owed Napocor more than P240 million in unsettled accounts.
"How many IPPs are like MCI that owe Napocor? And how many Covantas are there from whom the government cannot collect?" he said.
The public is effectively subsidizing the IPPs, Pimentel said, because of the failure of Napocor to demand payment from them.
"The situation is akin to increasing the value-added tax for all because the government wants to deal with erring corporations with soft gloves and would rather tax the public than collect from profitable corporations," he said. — With Marvin Sy