Exec: SC ruling reinforces firm’s stand on Naga case

The Supreme Court decision to reinstate the awarding of the 153.1-Megawatt (MW) Naga Power Plant Complex in Cebu to Therma Power Visayas Inc. (TVPI), a subsidiary of Aboitiz group’s energy arm, reinforced the company’s stand that the asset went through a fair bidding process.

Sebastian Lacson, AboitizPower coal group president, gave this statement last week as he welcomed the High Court’s decision on the issue.

“We believe that our subsidiary TVPI won the bid in a fair and transparent manner. Had TPVI not participated, the government would have sold its asset at a much lower price,” he said in a statement released on Thursday.

Notice of Judgement

This statement was a reaction to the SC’s Notice of Judgement dated Oct. 5, 2016 in the SC case number G.R. No. 212686 entitled “Sergio R. Osmeña III vs. Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., Emmanuel R. Ledesma, Jr., SPC Power Corp. and Therma Power Visayas, Inc.”

In its Notice of Judgement, the high court upheld the validity of the public bidding held by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. of the Naga Power Plant, but invalidated the condition in the bidding granting SPC the right to top the bid.

The SC ordered the reinstatement of the Notice of Award issued by PSALM dated April 30, 2014 awarding the 153.1-MW Naga Power Plant in Cebu to TPVI.

The SC annulled and set aside the Asset Purchase Agreement (NPPC–APA) and the Land Lease Agreement executed (NPPC–LLA) between SPC and PSALM and directed PSALM to execute the NPPC-APA and the NPPC-LLA in favor of TPVI.

Biddings

PSALM held the first bidding for the Naga Power Plant in 2013.
The first two rounds were declared failed bids as only one bidder, SPC, showed up.

TPVI joined the third round and won with a bid of P1.089 billion, higher than SPC’s bid of only P859 million.

SPC then exercised the right-to-top and was issued a Notice of Award by PSALM despite unanswered issues and the SC case questioning the validity of the right-to-top provision.

Statement

Cebu Daily News sent an email to SPC to get their statement on the decision last Thursday, but as of press time, the firm had not yet sent their statement.