Supreme Court rules against sale of Angat dam

The Philippine Supreme Court disallowed the sale of Angat Dam, Metro Manila’s primary water source, less than a week after non-government groups sought to prohibit the transaction. The High Court, now headed by newly-appointed Chief Justice Reynato Corona, issued a status quo ante order, preventing various government agencies from proceeding with the sale of the 246-megawatt hydroelectric facility to a Korean company. Deciding as a whole, the Court in a resolution found the petition filed by several non-government organizations — including the Freedom from Debt Coalition — to be "sufficient in form and substance." "Allegations, issues raised, and arguments adduced in the petition" has prompted the Court to "issue a status quo ante order and require the respondents to comment on the petition within a period of 10 days from notice, hereof," the Supreme Court said. Although the High Court is in recess after adjourning its last session on May 5, the Chief Justice is authorized to either call for a special session, issue a temporary restraining order, or a preliminary injunction on behalf of other justices. Earlier, groups led by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) filed the petition at the High Court, claiming that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) — an agency tasked with selling government-owned power plants — "acted with grave abuse of discretion" when it conducted bidding for the Angat hydro-electric power plant (HEPP). Bidding for the facility was conducted "in secrecy and in disregard of the people’s right to information, right to water, and in violation of its mandate and the Constitution," the groups said in a statement. Not only does it provide 97 percent of the Philippine capital’s water needs, the facility also helps irrigate some 31,000 hectares of farms across 20 towns and municipalities in Bulacan and Pampanga. Akbayan party-list representative Walden Bello and Akbayan’s Loretta Ann Rosales, Edgardo Ligon of the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Inc. (IDEALS, Inc.), Rebecca Malay of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), and Daniel L. Edralin of the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) are listed as petitioners in the case. Respondents include PSALM, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water), First Gen Northern Energy Corporation, San Miguel Corporation (SMC), SN Aboitiz Power-Pangasinan, Inc., Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corporation, and DMCI Power Corporation. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV