00:00In the meantime, embattled House Representative Leandro Leviste has a huge IOU to settle with government
00:06for failure to live up to his end of the deal he signed off on energy service contracts with the
00:12government
00:12during the Duterte presidency.
00:15But the Batangas representative is pushing back and says the DOE secretary is backing up or barking up the wrong
00:21tree
00:21because he does not own the firm being penalized.
00:25Our Rod Lagusad on the DOE's referral of the case to the ombudsman to find out whether there is probable
00:31cause
00:32as our Rod Lagusad reports.
00:36Long overdue.
00:37This was the statement of Energy Secretary Sharon Garin after the renewable energy firm Solar Philippines
00:43founded by Batangas representative Leandro Leviste failed to pay the 24 billion pesos penalty imposed by the department.
00:50Because of this, the Department of Energy has referred the matter to the office of the ombudsman
00:54following the company's failure to comply.
00:56The scams after the company failed to fulfill its contractual obligations with the government.
01:00The DOE earlier canceled the contracts of Solar Philippines.
01:03According to Garin, a one-month period was given to settle the payment.
01:07We leave it to the judgment of the ombudsman kung ano yung pa-file nila kasi they've been asking us
01:14for documents
01:15and hindi naman kami yung, you know, Department of Justice, it will be ombudsman that we will determine kung ano
01:22yung mga violations
01:23based on the documents that we have submitted.
01:26She said they are awaiting the evaluation of the office of the ombudsman.
01:29There's already a preliminary investigation ongoing, on both, on both, on DOJ, even kay Solgen and ombudsman.
01:38And we have a hearing in Congress, I think, on the 24th, this month also.
01:43The secretary clarified that Leviste was not the only one fined.
01:47She added, this is just unusual with many contracts like Solar Philippines.
01:51It's not like Pinlano to na ngayon lang.
01:55Kasi this is part of a long process that we are doing in DOE.
02:01So that we want legitimate and serious investors in the Philippines kasi hindi po nilalaroan niyang electricity.
02:09It's a utility that is needed by each and every Philippine.
02:13According to the secretary, all companies, including Solar Philippines, were afforded due process.
02:18She also said, one more contract of the Solar Philippines is under evaluation and awaiting assessment.
02:23Rod Lugused from the National TV Network for a new and better Philippines.
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