The Alsons Power Group lauded the Supreme Court decision upholding the Commission on Audit’s approval of the Iligan City government’s sale of two diesel power plants to the group’s Conal Holdings Corp. in 2012.
The court en banc, in a resolution dated August and made public in October, dismissed a petition that questioned COA’s approval of the negotiated sale of the diesel plants by the city government.
“The Supreme Court’s decision en banc validates the agreement we reached with the city government. Upon the COA’s approval of the sale, we were able to rehabilitate and operate the MPC Iligan Diesel Power Plants just in time to deliver much-needed power to Iligan City and other key areas in Mindanao during the May 2013 elections,” Alsons Power chief executive and MPC president Tirso Santillan Jr. said.
The group behind the petition opposed the sale of the diesel assets to Alsons Power’s CHC, alleging that the sale had given unwarranted benefit to CHC.
The diesel plants with a combined capacity of up to 103 megawatts are now owned and operated by Mapalad Power Corp., also part of the Alsons Power Group.
The MPC power plants began operating in 2013, soon after the COA’s September 2012 approval of the validity of the sale. The COA approval was questioned on the basis of its valuation method.
“During those days of power shortage in Mindanao in 2013 to around 2015, the timely operation of the MPC plant was able to help provide relief to the people of Iligan, Zamboanga City, General Santos, Pagadian, Butuan, and other major cities in the island,” Santillan said.
The two diesel plants were originally developed, built and operated in the early 1990s by the Alcantara Group’s Alsons International Inc.—a forerunner of Alsons Power.
The Iligan plants began operating in 1993 as the Northern Mindanao Power Corp. under two build, operate, transfer agreements with the National Power Corp.
Ownership and possession of both plants were turned over to NPC in 2003 and 2004. The plants were subsequently acquired by the city government of Iligan prior to their sale to CHC in 2012.