HOUSE deputy speaker and Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo on Wednesday slammed four commissioners of the Energy Regulatory Commission for ganging up on ERC chairman Jose Vicente Salazar and questioned why they did not make the same outcry during the time of former chairman Zenaida Ducut.
“Why only now when in fact it was [former ERC chairman Zenaida] Ducut who was involved in the Napoles scam where billions of pesos were involved. The ERC as an institution is being dragged [yet] not a whimper from you four,” Quimbo said.
Quimbo was addressing Commissioners Josefina Asirit, Gloria Victoria Yap-Taruc, Geronimo Sta. Ana and Alfredo Non who attended the congressional inquiry looking into corruption allegations that supposedly led to the suicide of ERC director Francisco Villa in November 2016.
“It seems to me that you are selectively choosing what matters you cry for justice. This makes me feel like there is a deep-seated resentment among the commissioners against the current chairman, like there is a divide,” Quimbo added.
The four ERC commissioners spoke of a “cloud of mistrust and fear” and at certain points accused Salazar of conflict of interest and having demanded a stop to an internal inquiry into alleged corruption in the agency.
But Quimbo cited their deafening silence when Ducut was being asked by lawmakers both in the House and the Senate to either take a leave of absence or resign from the ERC after being implicated in the P10-billion pork barrel scam engineered by Janet Lim-Napoles.
In a sworn testimony submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation whistleblower and witness Benhur Luy, a former Napoles accomplice, claimed that Ducut used to regularly visit Napoles’ 25th floor office at Discovery Suites in Pasig City to get her commission for every pork barrel project she delivered to Napoles.
Luy said the former ERC chief demanded a 5-percent commission as kickbacks for other lawmakers she referred to Napoles. He also said in some instances, Napoles would deposit Ducut’s commission through a fund transfer through the latter’s personal bank account.
Quimbo said if the commissioners, who were already with the ERC when Ducut was chairman, were so concerned by allegations of corruption, then why did they not raise any objections to Ducut’s tenure in the ERC and her involvement in the multi-billion peso scam?
Section 38 of the law that created the ERC, Republic Act No. 9136, known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, cites that the ERC chairman and commissioners should be persons of good moral character, aside from other qualifications.
Salazar during the joint congressional inquiry denied all allegations hurled against him saying he is willing to step down from his position if found he has committed any act of corruption.
Asked by Negros Oriental Rep. Arnulfo Teves Jr. pointblank if he was willing to resign if found to have taken a bribe or committed any kind of corrupt act, Salazar said, “Yes your honor, and I believe we will not find anything.”
