Marcos picks questioned

(Editor’s note: Aldrin Cardona is a veteran journalist.)

TWO events last week most likely went unnoticed by the common Filipino electricity consumer but these would be crucial for him in the coming weeks as prices of energy continue to spike due to many causes.

At the center of these events was the Aboitiz family head, Sabin Aboitiz, who was recently named as head of Malacañang’s Private Sector Advisory Council– a powerful position that has President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.’s ears.

Last Friday, Mr. Marcos was his special guest for the inauguration of the UnionBank Innovation Campus.

The Aboitiz Group president and CEO laid out the red carpet for the President’s visit to the five-story campus built on a one-hectare property in Magsaysay, San Pedro, Laguna.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a grand show of the Aboitizes’ political clout. Extracting the President from his busy schedule was no mean feat, of course.

Besides, news sources described the campus as a “hub for research and development to further boost UnionBank’s digital capabilities by creating solutions for the future of banking, fintech as well as other industries.”

It could be that important for Mr. Marcos that he had brought with him his Trade Secretary, Alfredo Pascual, who gamely posed with UnionBank president and CEO Edwin Bautista to affirm the event’s importance.

It happened just four days after former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had also hosted Sabin Aboitiz and other guests to dinner in Taguig.

With Aboitiz in that dinner was Raphael Lotilla, formerly Lead Independent Director of the Aboitiz Power Corporation, who is now Mr. Marcos’ Energy Secretary.

Convenient it now seems for Aboitiz– the President’s main adviser on trade and business– and Lotilla to be within Mr. Marcos’ earshot in formulating policies, but add to it Marcos’ appointment of yet another Aboitiz official, Monalisa Dimalanta, as chair of the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Now, electricity consumers should see a problem here as did National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms, Inc. (NASECORE) president Pete Ilagan and Gerry Arances, convenor of the Power for People Coalition (P4P)– two consumer rights advocates who have questioned their appointments.

Aboitiz owns Aboitiz Equity Ventures– a major player in the energy business.

Aboitiz Power Corporation owns Davao Light and Power Company in Davao City where increases in electricity rates have been imposed lately.

It also owns Cotabato Light and Power Company in Cotabato City, Visayan Electric Company in Cebu City, the Mariveles Coal-Fired Power Plant in Mariveles, Bataan, Therma South, Inc – Coal Fired Power Plant in Davao City, and Therma Visayas, Inc. – Coal Fired Power Plant in Toledo, Cebu.

Lotilla had served these companies well before his appointment.

Ilagan, however, is asking Marcos to recall Lotilla’s appointment, citing a conflict of interest. He also wants Dimalanta’s papers withdrawn.

Dimalanta was Aboitiz Power Corp.’s chief legal counsel and compliance officer before her appointment.

Arances, in an Inquirer report, said Dimalanta’s appointment was “tainted with the interest of private companies. In the midst of unceasing electricity price hikes and inflation, it seems that consumer welfare has been once again neglected.”

Lotilla and Dimalanta are also a “heavy baggage” to Mr. Marcos, Ilagan said.

“Both Ms. Dimalanta and Atty. Lotilla come from the energy arm of the Aboitiz Group of Companies and they are seated at the opposite ends of the governance process: Dimalanta on the regulatory side as chairman of the ERC and Lotilla on the implementation of government policies as Secretary of Energy. We believe that the Aboitiz Group should not exercise influence in both offices to maintain the checks and balance of the two key offices,” Ilagan’s letter signed last Monday last week averred.

“This will give the Aboitizes the distinct advantage thru the two (2) key appointees in seeing through and seizing numerous business opportunities in the power industry… And considering the highly-held value of the Filipino trait “UTANG NA LOOB”, the needed and required objectivity of both appointees will always be put to question as decisions on critical and sensitive power issues need to be resolved through the issuance of a Department policy or a Commission’s Decision/Order,” he added.

If these aren’t troubling enough, then let’s just chill and allow them to prove Ilagan and Arances wrong.

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