The AboitizPower Corp. will continue to operate its 400 – megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Quezon province.
The Lucena Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 57 has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) and ordered the mayor of Pagbilao, Quezon to halt the implementation of the cease and desist order (CDO) on the Pagbilao Energy Corp. (PEC)
The order came from PEC’s application for injunction, and the TRO was to restrain the local government unit of Pagbilao from enforcing the CDO issued against the operations of the company’s power plant in the province.
In applying for a business permit, the Municipality of Pagbilao required the PEC to create a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to implement its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs for an amount above the company’s approved budget for CSR.
However, the company said that the Pagbilao plant has received all necessary endorsements required from local government units – the Quezon provincial government, municipality of Pagbilao, and host barangay Ibabang Polo – and all clearances and endorsements from the national government agencies; Department of Energy, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, among others.
But, the municipality refused to issue a business permit without the executed MOA and issued a CDO instead.
“PEC maintains that the execution of the MOA is not part of the published and legal requirements for the issuance by the municipality of a local business permit,” it said.
The delay in operations of the power plant poses danger to the supply of Luzon grid. The plant was supposed to operate before the end of 2017 and has been pushed back to this year.
“The potential delay in the commercial operations of PEC’s power plant would render PEC unable to perform its commitments to its suppliers, customers, and to the Luzon Grid,” it said.
The PEC is a joint venture company of Therma Power Inc., – a subsidiary of AboitizPower – and TPEC Holdings Corp.
