The city government intends to appeal the dismissal by a local court of its P1 million civil suit against the Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) for damages due to frequent power outages.
Atty. Norman Yap, the city’s legal officer, asked the Sangguniang Panlungsod on Monday, October 10, to pass a resolution giving Mayor Lucilo Bayron authority to file a certiorari with the Court of Appeals (CA).
Yap said the court action stems from the initial “partial dismissal” issued by Branch 52 of the Palawan Regional Trial Court (RTC), which ruled that it had no jurisdiction over the case.
“The RTC ordered a partial dismissal of the complaint, holding that the jurisdiction of the case belongs to the National Energy Administration (NEA) and not in the trial court,” he said.
Yap said that they have filed a motion for partial reconsideration pointing out the conflict of interest of the NEA that resulted in the dismissal of the case “in its entirety.”
“We filed a motion for partial reconsideration asserting that there is an immediate judicial action and it is not fair to refer to NEA considering NEA is the one appointing the management of Paleco. I will not deal with the details of our partial MR in 2020, but basically this year, the RTC denied the motion for partial reconsideration as it now decided to dismiss the case as to its entirety. I consulted the city administration and he said we should go up to CA to file a certiorari to assail the case that was filed against PALECO,” Yap added.
In 2019, Bayron led the filing of a mandatory injunction class suit with damages of P1 million against Paleco to compel them to ensure a reliable supply of electricity in the city.