Nueva Vizcaya government sets auction of Casecnan facilities

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The provincial government will push through, as scheduled, its supervised public auction of the facilities of the Casecnan multi-purpose irrigation and power project after the court denied the petition of its foreign operator for a temporary restraining order (TRO).

Lawyer Desiderio Perez, provincial legal officer, said the auction of the Casecnan facilities located in the mountainous town of Alfonso Castañeda will be conducted at the provincial Capitol on July 26.

At least two firms, according to Perez, have expressed interest in the auction.

Should there be no qualified bidders, he said the provincial government will automatically take over the Casecnan facilities, while its foreign operator, the US company California Energy (Cal-Energy), will be given a one-year period to redeem them.

Last Tuesday, Judge Godofredo Naui of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 37 here denied Cal-Energy’s petition for a TRO for the scheduled auction of its multimillion-peso Casecnan project due to its failure to pay P250 million in real property taxes to the provincial government.

In a six-page decision, Naui said Cal-Energy, which owns and operates the Casecnan project, failed to "show a clear and positive right calling for judicial protection."

"The policy of the law is to discountenance any delay in the collection of taxes because of the oft-repeated but unassailable consideration that taxes are the lifeblood of the government and their prompt and certain availability is an imperious need," Naui said.

In its petition, Cal-Energy argued that the case as to who should settle the real property tax — the company or the National Irrigation Administration — and the validity of the tax assessment of the provincial government are still pending with the Central Board of Assessment Appeals of the Department of Finance.

Last month, the provincial government announced the public auction of the Casecnan properties and facilities here, including part of the 36-kilometer diversion tunnel located within the province, after Cal-Energy failed to settle its P250-million real property taxes.