‘Let the court decide,’ says MORE Power executive on case filed vs. JVA

June 18, 2023

The president of MORE Power Inc. welcomed the case that seeks to nullify the joint venture agreement (JVA) it signed with the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO).

“We welcome this and let the court decide,” Roel Castro, president and chief executive officer of MORE Power Inc. said in a statement.

Consumer advocates Rommel Pido, Aaron Sorbito, and former Rep. Pete Pico, representing the Negros Consumers Watch and Anti-CENECO JVA Coalition, with legal counsels Atty. Wax Apawan and Atty. Rey Gorgonio, filed a Declaratory Relief and Declaration of Nullity against the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between Prime Electric Holdings Inc. and Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) on Friday.

The filing also includes an application for the issuance of a Preliminary Injunction and a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO).

Aside from Castro, named respondents were CENECO directors Jojit Yap, Ariel Guides, Eugenio Velasco, Antonio Panique, Dwight Carbon, Noel Alarcon and Nicanor Jison.

A plebiscite on the JVA is scheduled on June 25, 26, and July 1 and 2.

The case is not a discouragement, said Castro. “But as long as there is no court order, we will continue to prepare for the plebiscite and conduct information and education campaigns (IEC) together with CENECO,” he said.

CENECO and Primelectric Holdings, Inc./Negros Electric Power Corporation (NEPC) entered into a joint venture agreement (JVA) on June 3, aimed at improving power distribution service in the cooperative’s franchise area.

Primelectric Holdings is a sister company of MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power), the sole power distributor in Iloilo City.

The JVA signing was witnessed by Negros Occidental vice governor Jeffrey Ferrer, Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Stephen Paduano, and majority of the barangay captains of Bacolod City.

CENECO has 210,000 member-consumer-owners from the cities of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay and Bago, and the municipalities of Murcia and Don Salvador Benedicto in the province of Negros Occidental.

Atty. Arnel Lapore, acting general manager of the power cooperative, said the JVA gives CENECO “the opportunity to modernize its facilities, address the frequent brownouts and tame the system losses of the electric cooperative reaching P15 million to P20 million monthly.”* (EYAdiong)