In a picket protest June 11, consumers and activists held a protest action before Meralco’s office to slam Meralco’s planned rate hike.
The protesters said a rate hike amid inflationary times would drive poor families into more economic hardships.
They also blamed President Rodrigo Duterte for his government’s failure to alleviate the poor and moderate oligarchs’ greed as he promised.
Consumer group Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas with its counsel Neri Colmenares filed a petition at the Supreme Court against the government’s Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) awarding of 20-year power contracts to seven private generation companies without bidding, among them are those owned by Meralco.
The petition was filed on November 8, 2016.
A week after, massive power outages struck several Meralco franchise areas that lead some to speculate that the power firm may be creating an “emergency” situation to justify the contracts. (Featured photo by Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas Facebook page.)