PSALM says its financial records are open

Clarifying earlier reports, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said Thursday it requested confidentiality on loan documents and independent power producer contracts — not its financial records — that it submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). "PSALM never invoked a 'confidentiality' clause to stop the ERC from making public the financial records that it submits in relation to its application for universal charge to recover the National Power Corp.'s (Napocor) stranded debts and stranded contract costs," the state-run corporation said in a statement. Independent power producer contracts "contain confidential provisions. Opening them to the public would be a breach of these contracts," said PSALM. PSALM said confidentiality is proper given the terms and conditions in the loan documents, which are not common to all debtors and lenders, such as the Asian Development Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, World Bank, and other commercial banks. The filing of a request for confidential treatment of documents, said PSALM, is "nothing unusual" as it is in compliance with ERC's Rules of Practice and Procedure. PSALM was created under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to manage the debts and privatization of Napocor. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV