Hontiveros: Probe NGCP's ₱8.7-B janitorial, security expenses

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 12) – Sen. Risa Hontiveros urged energy regulators to launch an investigation into the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines' (NGCP) ₱8.7-billion spending for janitorial and security services.

The NGCP claimed in a press briefing that the multi-billion spending was for 583 facilities, each costing the company ₱87,000 per month.

«Hindi tayo kailangang mangapa sa dilim para makita ang mga pasilidad na pinagkagastusan ng bilyun-bilyon ng NGCP. Sa katunayan ay mas madali itong makikita ng ERC o ng Department of Energy dahil physical facilities ang mga ito kung ihahambing sa mahiwagang mga proyekto na pinopondohan ng confidential funds na mahirap hanapin,» Hontiveros said.

[Translation: We don't need to fumble in the dark to see the facilities that the NGCP is claiming they spent billions on. As a matter of fact, this can be easily checked by the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) or the Department of Energy because these are physical facilities, compared to the mysterious projects funded by confidential funds that are not easy to find.]

Hontiveros said she received information that the NGCP had given false information about the number of facilities it was maintaining. She said her sources revealed that were only about 260 facilities, not 583 as the company claimed.

«Such as the 77 repeater stations situated on remote mountain tops, require only a single security guard rather than janitorial staff. Similarly, over a hundred substation facilities and control centers, which are predominantly inaccessible to the public, may not necessitate around-the-clock janitorial services,» she said.

On May 29, the lawmaker expressed support to a proposal seeking a refund on the uncompleted projects of the NGCP.

She said she has been pushing for the refund since the 18th Congress, when NGCP’s «unconscionable greed with its reward payouts» was discovered.

READ: Hontiveros backs proposal to refund collected fees for NGCP's unfinished projects

«To validate the accuracy of these numbers and determine whether NGCP is disseminating misleading information on this issue, the ERC should conduct a comprehensive verification of the physical