“The paralysis starts today.”These were the words of Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Agnes Devanadera when she faced reporters for the first time after the Office of the Ombudsman suspended four ERC commissioners over controversial power supply agreements (PSAs). Devanadera said the ruling was contrary to the Duterte administration’s pro-poor policy as 73.6 million Filipinos would be adversely affected by any non-action on the regulator’s part. It will also have an impact on the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program of the government, “especially we’re talking of trillion of pesos that will be put into the mainstream economy,” she said. Devanadera is slated to send to President Rodrigo Duterte a letter outlining the impacts of the imminent one-year suspension of ERC Commissioners Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Alfredo Non, Josefina Patricia Magpale-Asirit and Geronimo Santa Ana. Having no commissioners, we will not move,” Devanadera told reporters in a press briefing.

Source: Manila Times December 22, 2017 16:52 UTC