Ombudsman to pursue plunder, graft raps vs. Legarda, Leviste over solar deals

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman will seek plunder and graft charges against Sen. Loren Legarda and her son, Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, over solar energy contracts that they say locked out rival investors and did not deliver on their commitments. Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said Friday, July 31, he has signed the charge sheet setting a preliminary investigation, the step that comes before cases are filed in court. Former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi is the third respondent in the possible complaints. The solar contracts in question are worth about P10 billion, Remulla said, but the real cost could be much higher. "That P10 billion is only the contracts," Remulla said in mixed English and Filipino. "What our fellow Filipinos lost runs into hundreds of billions." In January this year, the Department of Energy flagged the Leviste-owned Solar Philippines for failing to comply with its contractual commitments over the past several years. Remulla said exclusive service contracts essentially gave Leviste sole authority to produce, use and sell solar energy across the country. "It is as if they own the sun, the power of the sun, to the exclusion of all other Filipinos and other investors," he said. "They promised they would produce electricity. It's printed in the Philippine Energy Plan," he said. "They didn't do it. They just sold, they just made money. If they built anything, it was a pittance." Remulla argued that since Leviste was 21 when he obtained the exclusive franchise, he would not have gotten it without his mother. "He wouldn't have gotten it if his mother, the chair of the Senate finance committee, hadn't helped him," Remulla said. "She used her position so her son could get the franchise." Remulla said there is also potential conflict of interest in the dealings that Leviste had inside Congress and with contractors. Pressed on Leviste's likely claim that he is just being persecuted politically, Remulla said his office had first studied the possible charges. "This is a very novel case. It's not something you just think up," Remulla said. "But if you study what happened to our energy sector, we really suffered from what they did." Remulla said he gave instructions for fact-finding as early as November and the work began in January.