AboitizPower welcomes SC’s final ruling on 153.1-MW Cebu power plant complex

Aboitiz Power Corporation welcomes the Supreme Court’s Nov. 28 Notice of Judgment denying with finality Salcon Power Corp.’s motion for reconsideration in relation to the 153.1-MW Naga Power Plant Complex in Barangay Colon, City of Naga.

"We are pleased that the Supreme Court has ruled on this issue with finality. The High Court’s decision supports a transparent and fair bidding process that encourages open competition," said Antonio R. Moraza, AboitizPower president and COO.

The SC denied with finality the motion for reconsideration of SPC seeking to revise the Oct. 5 Resolution of the High Court that reinstated the notice of award of the Naga Power Plant Complex (NPPC) to AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Power Visayas, Inc. (TPVI).

In its Oct. 5 resolution, the High Court ordered the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) to execute the asset purchase agreement and land lease agreement on NPPC in favor of TPVI “with dispatch.”

The SC reiterated that SPC’s right to top, granted in SPC’s lease agreement for the Naga Land-Based Gas Turbine, is “null and void.” The SC also annulled and set aside the asset purchase and land lease agreements that PSALM and SPC executed.

PSALM held the first bidding for the Naga Power Plant in 2013.  The first two rounds were declared failed bids as only one bidder, SPC, showed up. TPVI joined the third round and won with a bid of P1.088billion, higher than SPC's bid of only P858,999,888.88.

PSALM issued a Notice of Award dated April 30, 2014 in favor of TPVI but it (PSALM) executed SPC’s right to top based on its land lease agreement and asset purchase agreement of the land-based gas turbine plant within the Naga Power Plant Complex.

The right to top, however, was declared null and void by the SC in its Sept. 28, 2015 decision and reiterated in its Oct. 5, 2016 resolution