Panay Electric Co. (PECO) has taken legal action against the order issued by the Iloilo City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 23 which allows MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) to take over its power distribution assets.
Divina Law, PECO’s legal counsel, filed a petition before the Court of Appeals (CA) seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or a writ of preliminary injunction to stop the implementation of the order.
Signed by Presiding Judge Emerald Requina-Contreras, the 14-page order reiterated the grant of a writ of possession (WOP) to MORE Power.
“The issuance of a writ of possession is a ministerial duty of the court, and in so far as the two previous judges already afforded the parties of due process, the court deems it proper to immediately issue the writ,” a part of the order read.
Divina Law also filed a Petition for Certiorari asking the CA to review the order.
“Contrary to what’s being circulated via publicity by MORE Power, it will be highly irregular at this point to insist on the takeover pending resolution of the motion for clarification that PECO has filed with the RTC of Iloilo to define the parameters of the implementation and, more importantly, in view of the Petition for Certiorari with prayer for TRO that has been filed with the Court of Appeals,” the law firm said in a statement.
MORE Power, according to PECO’s legal counsel, “cannot jump the gun and pre-empt the ruling on our application for TRO,”
While “this legal issue is being resolved,” Divina Law said PECO will “responsibly continue to provide service to the city.”
“PECO will vigorously pursue all legal remedies to set aside the order,” it added.IMT
