Meralco franchise gets final House nod

MANILA, Philippines —  The House of Representatives approved yesterday on third and final reading the bill granting Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) another 25 years to operate its franchise.

House Bill 10926 passed by the plenary gives the Manny V. Pangilinan-run Meralco, whose franchise is to expire in 2028, until 2053 to distribute power to Metro Manila, Cavite, Rizal, Batangas, Laguna, Quezon (Calabarzon) and Pampanga.

The approved version of HB 10926 will be sent to the Senate for concurrence.

In mid-August, the House committee on legislative franchise approved the Meralco franchise bill.

HB 10926 was a consolidation of House Bills 9793, 9813, 10317 and its amended version, which House committee on legislative franchise chairman Rep. Gus Tambunting described as a result of months of meetings and discussions and received various letters of support.

The three measures were authored by congressmen Joey Salceda (House ways and means committee chairman), Rufus Rodriguez (constitutional amendments) and Lord Allan Velasco (energy).

“The franchise is possibly the single most important private bill for industrial policy in this country. Meralco services an area responsible for about half the country’s entire GDP and about 26 percent of the population,” Salceda, second district congressman from the province of Albay, said.

“Meralco is an exemplar of how service reliability can create economic growth and development. Meralco has also fully complied with the Energy Regulatory Commission’s rules and issuances. Some P48.3 billion in consumer refunds have also been delivered in full,” he added.

“Practically everything has been discussed, has been ventilated and have been answered (in the previous marathon hearings),” Rodriguez, a congressman from Cagayan de Oro City’s second district, said.

Velasco, who served as speaker during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s term, made the same endorsement. “Everything has been fully discussed. No other issue has been put forward. Meralco has long been serving our country well and they deserve to be granted a new franchise.”

Under its existing franchise, Meralco is authorized to construct, operate and keep a distribution system for the conveyance of electric power to consumers in the cities and municipalities and barangays of Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Pampanga.