MANILA, Philippines (Update 6:19 p.m.) — The Senate on Friday sent the Office of the Ombudsman a copy of its resolution recommending charges against Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and others for approving the allegedly anomalous share sale deal in the Malampaya gas field, Sen. Win Gatchalian, energy committee chair, said.
"The Senate is one in recommending to the Ombudsman the filing of charges against Secretary Cusi and his officials. What we submitted [to the Ombudsman] awhile ago is the resolution of the Senate...as an institution," Gatchalian said in Filipino in an emailed interview shared with reporters.
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A resolution expresses the sense or sentiment of a body like the Senate but is non-binding and does not have the force of law.
"The Ombudsman already received the Senate resolution recommending the filing of charges against Secretary Cusi and other officials due to the anomalous approval of the transaction between Chevron and UC Malampaya," he added.
The senator also called on the ombudsman to immediately investigate the issue, based on the Senate's findings. The office under Ombudsman Samuel Martires has opted to work in relative silence and does not give regular updates on complaints and cases it is handling.
Gatchalian, who led the hearings on the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project's deals, said Cusi may face charges for allegedly violating the law in favoring Udenna subsidiary UC Malampaya in the deal, which the senator claims had not passed evaluation and did not prove to be capable of handling an energy project of scale.
Earlier, he called on Cusi to resign from his post and face charges, after claiming that the agency "railroaded" the share sale approval in the gas field.
Cusi and businessman Dennis Uy in December filed libel complaints against dozens of journalists —including members of Philstar.com staff — over reporting on a graft complaint filed against them at the Office of the Ombudsman over the deal.
In a Senate privilege speech on February 2, Gatchalian said DOE "violated not only the law, but even its own department circular, in railroading the approval of the transfer of a substantial participating interest in Malampaya to a company that the DoE knew to be financially unqualified to own it."
The department circular, in question, prescribed the guidelines for the transfer of rights and obligations in petroleum service contracts.
Gatchalian then suggested to the Ombudsman to file criminal cases against Cusi, and several of his officials including Undersecretary (USec) Donato Marcos, USec Robert Uy, former Assistant Secretary (ASec) Bodie Pulido, ASec Gerardo Erguiza, Energy Resource Development Bureau Director Cesar Dela Fuente, Legal Services Director III Arthus Tenazas, Financial Services Director III Araceli Soluta, and four others for allegedly violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
In a separate statement, opposition senator Leila de Lima backed Gatchalian's call to file charges against members of the DoE.
"We simply cannot watch these officials facing serious allegations of malfeasance slink away from public view and let the passage of time wash away their sins. We, as duly elected Senators of the Republic, are compelled to demand so much more. We call for accountability," she said in a statement on Friday.
Cusi: Ready to face charges
On Friday evening, Cusi said he is ready to face all the charges against him in the proper forum
"I am elated that this matter may now be brought before the proper legal forum where evidence, logic and reason are used as bases for determining whether or not an irregularity has been committed. That had not been the case at the Committee hearing where innuendoes, speculation and hearsay propagated by certain business interests dictated the course of the so-called investigation," he said in a statement issued on Viber.
Cusi said it is unfortunate that the Malampaya gas field was politicized by "those whose business interests must have been put in jeopardy", as he performed his duties as energy chief. He added that it is also unfortunate that Gatchalian decided to listen to those business interests.
"It was obvious in these hearings that Senator Gatchalian has sought to undermine the DoE’s ability to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the proposal covering the said sale of shares," he said.
"It is evident that the hearings were merely intended to force me out of office in order to frustrate and invalidate what are legally binding transactions involving ownership of shares of Malampaya contractors," he added.
Cusi said he is ready to prove that the actions of his department are legal.
Meanwhile, Udenna Corp., through spokesperson Raymond Zorilla, has maintained that its deal with Chevron is a private sale conducted at the parent company level, which does not involve "any transfer of any rights of obligations." Because of this, it argued that the deal did not require DOE's approval.
"The Chevron transactions followed competitive bidding processes with rigorous due diligence conducted by Chevron, the international lenders involved and the other parties in the SC38 consortium," Zorilla said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
The Malampaya project is the country's sole indigenous gas field which powers five plants in Luzon. The gas field, which supplies power to over four and a half million homes and businesses in Mega Manila, contributes to almost 20% of the country's power generation mix.