00:00The franchise of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines is about to be revoked
00:05if some violations of the agreement can be proven.
00:10This is the story of Daniel Manalastas.
00:14The congressmen want to review the franchise of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines
00:19after hearing the House Committee on Legislative Franchises, the NGCP,
00:24on some of its problems, on some projects.
00:27Deputy Speaker J.J. Suarez wants an in-depth study on the performance of the NGCP
00:32as well as their franchise.
00:34The NGCP has an objection.
00:37If you think that this franchise needs to be revoked, let's do it.
00:41Maybe we should call for a fair chance to explain the issues that were raised earlier.
00:49Because all of those are not new.
00:51Some congressmen also criticized the projects that are not yet completed
00:56but when it comes to hearing, the people are paying for it.
00:59NGCP had 227 projects under the Transmission Development Plan.
01:05Some are already done, some are not.
01:07There were 111 approved by ERC.
01:11Some of them were completed, some of them are ongoing.
01:14Don't you think that this is wrong and highly immoral?
01:19That the projects that are not yet completed,
01:22that are not yet consumed,
01:24that are not yet proven efficient,
01:27are being paid by the people?
01:29Why are they objecting to a project that is not yet benefited by the people?
01:33The system, the regulatory framework governing transmission and distribution
01:40is supposed to be forward-looking.
01:43Historically, the ERC has allowed us on an as-spent basis
01:49unlike an ordinary small value good that you pay before you use.
01:54These are large infrastructure capital expenditure projects.
01:58Like an ordinary contractor,
02:00when we pay for the construction of a house,
02:03the contractor will not pay for it.
02:06Even the dividends that go to shareholders were questioned.
02:11Why is the dividend that you give to your shareholders so large?
02:18In 2015, your income was Php 22 billion,
02:22but the dividends, Php 21 billion, 93%.
02:26Php 20 billion, Php 19 billion are your dividends.
02:31The funding for projects doesn't come just from internally generated cash.
02:38So the dividends mentioned come from retained earnings.
02:41So that isn't exactly, with all due respect to how it works,
02:45that your dividends will be necessarily from your earnings.
02:50According to the NGCP, they are ready to explain,
02:53even to the perpetrators of corruption.
02:55The NGCP, the investigation that we conducted,
02:59we are following it.
03:01If they have a feeling that something needs to be changed,
03:05we are already out there and we are a private company
03:08that only follows the orders of our lawmakers.
03:11The committee invited the NGCP officials
03:15as well as the shareholders
03:17to clarify what they are investigating.
03:19Daniel Manalastas for Pambansang TV in Bagong, Philippines.
