The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the decision of the Ombudsman in June 2017 to charge a former security guard of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for not declaring eight personal real estate properties he acquired while he was still with the BOC.
In the Court’s decision dated Feb. 3 and published on June 22, it ruled that the former security guard be charged with violating Section 7 of Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Section 8 of RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees for failure to include in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) from 2008 to 2014 seven residential lots totaling 3,232 square meters and a house and lot, all in Bulacan province.
The SC denied the petition of the original complainant, the Department of Finance (DoF), to charge the Ombudsman with grave abuse of discretion for excluding in the charges a 1,342-sq.m. lot titled to the daughter of the accused, a 36-sq.m. house and lot unproven to be that of the accused, and properties undisclosed in earlier SALNs for which the period of filing for legal action had already expired.
“The OMB (Ombudsman) properly considered the applicable laws and jurisprudence in dismissing the said charges. Hence, no grave abuse of discretion may be attributed to it,” the Court held.
The DoF also noted that the former security guard was involved in a criminal case for robbery but the case was dismissed by the Bulacan Regional Trial Court.
Nevertheless, the DoF said the accused “still made an untruthful statement” when he stated in his Personal Data Sheet (PDS) that he had not been criminally charged.
The Ombudsman, however, did not charge the security guard for falsification of his PDS as “the ‘facts narrated by the offender’ are not ‘absolutely false,’ hence, there exists no probable cause to charge private respondent of falsification.” — Bianca Angelica D. Añago
THE PHILIPPINE bond market logged the fastest quarter-on-quarter growth in emerging East Asia in the first three months of the year on increased government borrowings to fund its deficit and pandemic response, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Friday.
The June issue of the ADB’s Asia Bond Monitor showed the country’s bond market recorded the fastest expansion in the subregion, which is composed of the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
Outstanding bonds grew by 6.5% to $188 billion in the first quarter from $178 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. This was the fastest rate in the region, which was followed by Indonesia’s 6.2%.
“Quarterly growth accelerated from 5.3% quarter on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2020, driven entirely by the government segment as the corporate segment saw contraction during the quarter,” the ADB said.
Meanwhile, the local bond market expanded by 28.4% from the $140 billion recorded the first quarter of 2020. This was the second-fastest print in the region after Indonesia’s 36%.
Broken down, government bonds made up 82.7% of the total issuances in the first three months of 2021 while corporate bonds accounted for the remaining 17.3%.
ADB data showed outstanding government bonds reached $155 billion as of March, growing by 8.4% from the $145 billion seen in last three months of 2020. It also climbed by 36.5% from the $109 billion a year earlier.
“Treasury bills and Treasury bonds primarily drove the increase, as the government continued to heavily borrow from the local market for its COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) relief efforts and to support economic recovery,” the multilateral lender said.
Meanwhile, outstanding corporate issuances were at $33 billion in the first quarter, slipping by 2% from the $34 billion logged in the previous three-month period.
“The decline can be attributed to the maturation of bonds offsetting the new issuances during the quarter,” ADB said.
Year on year, however, corporate bonds inched up by 0.01% from the $31 billion seen in the first quarter of 2020.
Among industries, the banking industry held the largest share of outstanding corporate bonds at 41.8% of the total, followed by the property sector with 23.8%.
However, even as it expanded faster than its peers, the Philippine bond market was the second smallest in emerging East Asia in the first quarter, beating only Vietnam’s $71-billion market.
In contrast, the biggest issuers as of March were China ($15.799 trillion), South Korea ($2.382 trillion), and Thailand ($3443 billion).
The local currency bond market in emerging East Asia continued to grow in the first quarter to reach $20.3 trillion as of March. This was higher by 2.2% quarter-on-quarter and by 15.9% year-on-year.
“[The] overall growth of the bond market moderated somewhat in Q1 2021 as governments sought to balance fiscal policy and corporates weighed uncertainty over the economic recovery,” the ADB said.
“Investor sentiment remained subdued amid looming uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation fears in the United States. This led
to volatilities in financial markets, especially in March… The COVID-19 pandemic remains the largest downside risk… Another potential risk is the possibility of tightening liquidity conditions globally, specifically that the Federal Reserve might tighten US monetary policy in response to growing inflationary pressure,” it added. — LWTN
ASIA UNITED Bank Corp. (AUB) targets to grow its net profit by 30% to P4 billion this year on hopes that improving consumer confidence will boost its lending business, it said in a statement on Friday.
AUB’s net income dropped 38% to P736 million in the first quarter from a year earlier as it boosted its loan loss provisions. In 2020, the bank’s net profit was down by 32% to P3 billion from P4.4 billion in 2019.
“2021 will definitely be a better year than 2020 as we expect the vaccine rollouts by the government and the private sector to improve consumer confidence and lead to increased economic activity. These, in turn, will boost our commercial and consumer lending business, which remain stable,” AUB President Manuel A. Gomez was quoted as saying.
“We anticipate the new wave of loan bookings as the economy opens up. We are therefore cautiously optimistic that as the economy normalizes, the asset quality compared to 2020 will significantly improve, not only for AUB but for the entire banking industry,” he said at the bank’s virtual annual stockholders’ meeting on Friday.
Mr. Gomez said the bank will continue to ramp up spending for its IT infrastructure, which was also its goal in the previous year.
“That will remain as IT will always be essential in order for us to keep up with the changing environment,” he said.
Even as he expects economic conditions to improve due to the gradual return of business activities, Mr. Gomez said the banking industry needs to continue to guard against risks that may arise due to the pandemic and the impending tightening of monetary policy measures.
“We must also be prepared for tightening regulations and increasing credit costs as the Bangko Sentral [ng Pilipinas] tries to stave off inflationary pressures and significant stress on the banking system,” Mr. Gomez said.
“We have yet to feel the full effects of the pandemic to personal incomes and business viability. We must still brace ourselves for some pockets of turbulence,” he added.
AUB Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Abraham T. Co, for his part, said the bank will likely mix working from home and from the office as needed moving forward.
“We have learned a lot how to work differently. Some people work better at home, some people don’t,” Mr. Co said.
AUB’s shares closed at P43.80 apiece on Friday, down by 20 centavos or 0.45% from the previous day. — LWTN
THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) fully awarded its offering of one-month securities on Friday even as rates went up slightly following the central bank’s higher inflation forecast for the year.
The BSP awarded P100 billion in the 28-day bills as planned as bids reached P135.73 billion, making the offer oversubscribed by 1.35 times, based on BSP data. However, this week’s tenders were lower than the P140.525 billion in demand logged during last week’s auction.
Accepted rates for the bills ranged from 1.8% to 1.835%, a narrower band compared to the 1.78% to 1.845% recorded last week. This brought the average rate of the 28-day papers to 1.8158%, inching up by 0.49 basis point from the 1.8109% seen on June 18.
The BSP bills and term deposits are used by the central bank to mop up excess liquidity in the financial system and to better guide interest rates.
The uptick in the average yield of the short-term securities was due to the higher inflation forecast of the BSP for 2021, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a text message.
The BSP kept its key interest rate at a record low for a fifth straight meeting on Thursday, as it vowed to maintain an accommodative stance to support economic recovery.
The BSP left the rate on the overnight reverse repurchase facility at 2%, as widely expected by 14 of 16 analysts in a BusinessWorld poll last week.
Interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were also kept at 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the central bank raised the inflation outlook for this year to 4% from the previous forecast of 3.9%. This matches the upper end of the BSP’s 2-4% target.
If realized, this would be faster than the 2.6% logged in 2020.
On the other hand, inflation is expected to average 3% for 2022 and 2023.
Headline inflation stood at 4.5% in May, For the first five months of the year, it averaged at 4.4%. — L.W.T. Noble
Lenders from Asia and Europe are interested in establishing digital banks in the Philippines, central bank officials said.
“We continue to receive expressions of interest or EOI from a number of foreign banks abroad in establishing a digital banking business in the Philippines. We are awaiting submission of complete documentation on their obligations so that BSP can start the assessment process,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said in an online briefing.
“What we can say is at this point is that we received expressions of interest from banks in Europe and in the Asian region,” BSP Managing Director for Policy and Specialized Supervision Lyn I. Javier said.
The central bank last year released a framework differentiating digital banks from traditional lenders. It defined a digital bank as a lender that mainly caters clients’ financial needs via an online platform versus traditional banks’ brick-and-mortar model.
These all-online lenders are expected to help the BSP achieve its goal to bring 70% of the country’s adults into the formal financial system and have 50% of transactions, in terms of both value and volume, done digitally.
The BSP this month granted the country’s third digital bank license to UNOBANK, which is the local unit of Singapore-headquartered DigibankASIA Pte. Ltd. Tonik Digital Bank, Inc. (Philippines) has also converted its rural bank license granted in 2019 to an online banking permit, while Overseas Filipino Bank, a subsidiary of the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines, was granted a license in April.
CIMB Bank Philippines, Inc. and ING Bank N.V. Manila also have all-online banking platforms that allow customers to transact via their apps.
“Meanwhile, we’re processing the application for conversion to a digital bank by an existing foreign bank operating in the country,” Mr. Diokno said on Friday.
The Monetary Board initially said it would only grant up to five licenses after the framework was released, but Mr. Diokno has said they could increase this limit if they see strong demand.
Mr. Diokno also noted that the country remains a favorable prospect for foreign banks looking to expand despite the impending exit of Citigroup, Inc. from its consumer banking business in the country.
“We do not see this as becoming a trend among foreign banks. Foreign banks in the country are increasingly focusing their attention on sustainability and mobilizing funds to economic sectors that will contribute to a net zero or low carbon economy,” the BSP chief said.
Among the 29 foreign banks currently operating in the country, Mr. Diokno said 12 are included in the 2020 list of Globally Systemically Important Banks.
However, these foreign banks remained stable and well-capitalized despite the pandemic, he said. The capital adequacy ratio of foreign banks in the country stood at 27.5% at end-March.
“Given their global market expertise, foreign banks can facilitate underwriting of green, social or sustainability bonds or finance infrastructure projects in key sectors such as renewable energy and low carbon transport,” Mr. Diokno said. — LWTN
THE PESO strengthened versus the greenback on Friday as central bank data showed more foreign funds entered than left the country in May.
The local unit closed at P48.481 per dollar on Friday, appreciating by 25.4 centavos from its P48.735 finish on Thursday, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed.
Week on week, however, it weakened by 5.1 centavos from its P48.43 per dollar finish on June 18.
The peso opened Friday’s session at P48.65 versus the dollar. Its weakest showing was at P48.66, while its intraday best was at P48.45 against the greenback.
Dollars exchanged decreased to $985.2 million from $1.005 billion on Thursday.
The peso rose as data showed hot money yielded net inflow last month, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a text message.
Foreign portfolio investments posted a net inflow of $416.74 million in May, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday showed. This is a turnaround from the $1.006-billion net outflow seen in the same month of 2020 as well as the net $373.95 million that left the country in April.
Meanwhile, a trader attributed the peso’s appreciation the central bank’s revised inflation forecasts.
“The peso appreciated after the BSP upwardly revised its inflation projections despite keeping policy rates unchanged,” the trader said in an email.
The BSP kept its key interest rate at a record low for a fifth straight meeting on Thursday, as it vowed to maintain an accommodative stance to support economic recovery.
The central bank left the rate on the overnight reverse repurchase facility at 2%, as widely expected by 14 of 16 analysts in a BusinessWorld poll last week.
Interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were also kept at 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the central bank raised the inflation outlook for this year to 4% from the previous forecast of 3.9%. This matches the upper end of the BSP’s 2-4% target.
If realized, this would be faster than the 2.6% logged in 2020.
On the other hand, inflation is expected to average 3% for 2022 and 2023. — LWTN
THE GOVERNMENT’S move to adjust tariffs on pork is effective as prices have stabilized in the past few weeks, an Agriculture department official said.
“The prevailing retail price of imported frozen pork in kasim and pigue, this is about P250 (per kilo), and for liempo, it is P290 (per kilo), and this has been stable for the past weeks,” Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary William C. Medrano said at a Tariff Commission hearing on Friday.
Mr. Medrano was referring to the prevailing retail prices of imported pork found in selected Metro Manila-based markets from April 21 to June 18.
“We see that this is the result of the implementation of EO (Executive Order) 133 and EO 134, and it’s really helping in stabilizing the supply of pork and reducing the prices of pork in the market, and therefore it is contributing to minimizing inflation,” he added.
EO 133 raised the minimum access volume (MAV) allocation for pork imports to 254,210 metric tons (MT) from 54,210 MT previously. Meanwhile, EO 134 adjusted the tariff rates on pork imports for one year. Both orders were signed last month.
Under EO 134, in-quota pork imports will be charged 10% tariff in the first three months and out-quota pork imports at 20% in the first three months. The tariffs will increase to 15% for in-quota and 25% for out-quota pork imports in the succeeding months.
Once the prescribed one-year period under the order lapses, the tariff rates for in-quota and out-quota pork imports will return to 30% and 40%, respectively.
Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura Chairman Rosendo O. So, who was present at the hearing, said increasing tariff rates on prime cuts of pork will help local hog raisers be competitive “against the highly depressed landed price of imported pork.”
“Lowering tariffs have not redounded to lower retail price of pork. Consumers have never benefited from any and all tariff reductions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Philippine Chamber of Food Manufacturers, Inc. Corporate Secretary Rita Imelda B. Palabyab noted there has been no improvement in local pork supply, which was affected by the African Swine Fever.
“Given that pork supply is still very much affected by ASF, it does not seem timely at this point to move for the increase in tariff when imported pork is very much needed to meet the requirements of our consumers as well as of our processors,” she said. — A.Y. Yang
THE Philippine Skills Framework launched Friday will be linking government, industry, and the academe for worker skills development.
The interagency initiative uses the SkillsFuture Singapore framework as a reference in developing skills for local industry and creating a common skills reference to match employers and workers.
“Employers will be able to identify the skills and competencies a potential employee must have to be able to effectively fulfill a job role,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said at the virtual launch.
“Companies can also use the framework to design progressive human resource management and talent development plans for their employees.”
Job seekers can use the framework to identify the skills they will need for their career paths, while educational institutions can use it to revise curricula or design new courses.
The frameworks will indicate relevant industry information, skills requirements for jobs, career pathways, and training programs.
Representatives from various agencies including the Labor, Trade, Tourism, and Education departments signed the memorandum of understanding in which they committed to coordinate in developing and upskilling the country’s workforce.
The Philippine Skills Framework will prioritize the construction, creatives, food, health, outsourcing, logistics, manufacturing, and tourism sectors. The first framework under the supply chain and logistics sector was also launched Friday. — Jenina P. Ibañez
THE DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (DA) has launched a solar-powered cold storage facility in its training institute in Quezon City, which it said is the “first of its kind in the Philippines” and would benefit farmers in areas with unstable power supply.
DA Secretary William D. Dar, who attended the inauguration of the demo unit at the DA Agriculture Training Institute (ATI Building), said the facility can be easily installed in remote areas that do not have access to power.
Mr. Dar said in a statement that the department has partnered up with local firm Next Agri Corp. Philippines Inc. and Indian agri-tech cold-storage provider Ecozen Solutions Private Ltd. India for the project.
He said the project, which can be adopted anywhere in the country, will benefit off-grid rural areas that rely on agriculture, fisheries and related activities.
“Like other developing countries, the Philippine agriculture sector has been suffering from the high post-harvest losses. In high-value crops alone, the losses can easily reach 20% to 40%,” he said, noting farmers in remote islands are unable to preserve their produce as they do not have access to cold storage units.
This causes them to sell their crops at lower prices of below 50% of the actual production value to middlemen and loan sharks. — AY
STOCKS closed the week in the green after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) kept benchmark interest rates at record lows and as the country received more coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.
The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) climbed 64.51 points or 0.93% to close at 6,950.51 on Friday, while the all shares index gained 29.69 points or 0.7% to 4,229.58.
“[The] market [is] looking forward to reopening given greater vaccine supply and better growth prospects also assured by [the] continuation of BSP accommodative policy despite the Fed taper and still elevated local inflation,” First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) Head of Research Cristina S. Ulang said in a Viber message.
“Philippine shares made another climb once again towards the 7,000 level after the new infrastructure framework drafted by a partisan group of US senators roused the market and after the conclusion of the latest BSP meeting,” Regina Capital Development Corp. Head of Sales Luis A. Limlingan said in a separate Viber message on Friday.
The BSP kept its key interest rate at a record low for a fifth straight meeting on Thursday, as it vowed to maintain an accommodative stance to support economic recovery.
The central bank left the rate on the overnight reverse repurchase facility at 2%, as widely expected by 14 of 16 analysts in a BusinessWorld poll last week.
Interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were also kept at 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively.
Meanwhile, two million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine from Chinese pharmaceutical Sinovac Biotech Ltd. were delivered on Thursday.
On the other hand, in the United States, senators reached a bipartisan agreement for a $579-billion infrastructure package.
Back home, all sectoral indices posted gains on Friday. Services went up by 21.89 points or 1.4% to 1,583.55; mining and oil climbed by 95.44 points or 1.03% to 9,322.39; holding firms improved by 65.86 points 0.95% to end at 6,931.29; property rose by 21.98 points or 0.64% to 3,415.61; financials inched up by 3,415.61 or 0.6% to 1,500.37; and industrials improved by 37.34 points or 0.39% to close at 9,542.4.
Value turnover increased to P6.55 billion with 2.54 billion shares switching hands on Friday, from the P6.48 billion with 4.36 billion shares traded the previous day.
Decliners outnumbered advancers, 118 against 88, while 44 names closed unchanged.
Net foreign selling dropped to P228.39 million from the P912.22 million seen the previous day.
FMIC’s Ms. Ulang said she expects the PSEi to test 7,000 next week. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
Bux, the payment gateway of UBX (the fintech arm of UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc.), now allows merchants to accept payments made through GrabPay, Grab’s in-app digital wallet.
“The whole idea is to allow entrepreneurs to receive payments and make transactions on a digital platform in the safety of their homes,” said Bux in an e-mail to BusinessWorld. “Usage of the platform was organically accelerated and made more valuable during the pandemic, because … there was an emphasis on no-contact transactions.”
Launched in December 2019, the e-commerce payment gateway was designed to support small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs, with options to scale.
“Anytime a consumer decides to enter into the informal economy as an occasional seller, Bux has the tools to enable that,” the company said. “Bux’s connection with UBX ventures can also enable higher-level entrepreneurial engagements… all the way to enterprise-level solutions.”
Apart from GrabPay, BUX’s other payment partners include UnionBank, 7-11, GCash, VISA, and ecPAY. Transaction fees are from P10+2% to P20 per transaction for e-wallets and over-the-counter transactions, respectively. A buy now, pay later option with a 1.5% transaction fee is also available.
“The market of UBX ventures is currently local, but all the tools that the UBX venture suite provides … are easily replicable in other economies once the relevant cross-border regulatory frameworks are set in place,” Bux told BusinessWorld. “But for now, even as the market is limited to the Philippine setting, we are constantly looking for new ways and developing features that will help our customers make the journey from users of the payment gateway to becoming enterprise accounts.” — Patricia B. Mirasol
It may be a "tough balancing act," but Meralco is focused on delivering uninterrupted service while practicing compassion for its customers.
Aligned with its mission to keep the lights on, Meralco is continuously innovating to better serve its customers.
How can Meralco balance the cry of its customers struggling to pay their electric bills with the energy industry requiring the cash flow to stay afloat and keep the electricity flowing?
“It’s a tough balancing act,” admits Meralco Chief Commercial Officer Ferdinand O. Geluz.
Meralco collects payments in behalf of the energy industry, and only gets 19% of the bill. 59% goes to the generation companies that own the power plants, 10% to the transmission company NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines), and 12% to government fees and subsidies.
More than half of proceeds from bill payments go to companies that generate electricity.
If Meralco is unable to collect, the energy industry’s viability is jeopardized and the investments needed to keep pace with the country’s development may not happen. As consumption increases, we need more power plants and a future-proof grid that can overcome the challenges of pandemics and calamities.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Meralco complied willingly with regulatory directives to subject Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) bills to 4- or 6-month installment arrangements. These were computed based on the February 2020 consumption of customers, since Meralco was unable to deploy meter readers during this time. On its own, the energy provider gave its customers a 30-day grace period and further extended payment for ECQ and MECQ (Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine) bills by 3 months. As of April 2021, around 986,000 customers are still paying their quarantine bills in installments. This is on top of the 81,832 installment payment agreements that Meralco granted beyond the regulatory directives.
Meralco offered installment payment arrangements to extend a helping hand to residential customers.
When General Community Quarantine (GCQ) was declared in May 15 this year, Meralco resumed disconnections the following week. “But we understand the struggle to pay with many just getting back to work,” said Geluz, “that’s why we asked customers who could not settle their bills in full to get in touch and arrange an installment plan to be exempted from the standard disconnection process. In our Facebook page, we had a simple message: ‘Usap tayo.’ ”
How have customers reacted to Meralco’s invitation? Geluz replies, “With a signed agreement, the installment plan is automated in the billing system. Customers are generally relieved with the plan, and we got very good ratings from our survey.” Meralco is the first utility provider in the country to implement a Customer Experience Index, which rates a customer’s transaction on if their needs were met, if they felt valued, and how easy the overall process was. Meralco piloted the study just before the implementation of installment payment arrangements.
More channels for safety
Meralco also encourages its customers to get in touch safely and easily through the live chat function on Meralco’s Facebook page and website, which allows customers to talk to Meralco agents in real-time. They may also reach out by calling its 16211 hotline. The installment plan may be arranged in any of these digital channels.
If customers still feel the need to go to a Meralco Business Center (BC), they may schedule their visit via the Online Customer Appointment system. BCs are also made safer and more efficient through the Virtual Customer Assistant (VCA) service, which allows customers to speak to Meralco representatives who are working from home. Meralco also worked with Bayad Center to have VCAs available at selected Bayad Centers, with more VCAs continuously being rolled out.
The Virtual Customer Assistant (VCA) was one of the many projects launched by Meralco to enhance the overall customer experience.
Meralco BCs are open to accept payments, applications, and customer assistance. Business hours are from 7 A.M. to 5 P.M. from Mondays through Fridays and 7 A.M. to 12 P.M. on Saturdays for payment transactions only. Find your nearest Business Center here.
For large corporations and national government accounts, they may contact their Relationship Manager, call the 16210 business hotline, or email at corporatepartners@meralco.com.ph. For SMEs who have a query or require assistance, they may call the business hotline, email at biz@meralco.com.ph, or get in touch with their Biz Partner Manager.
Real-time payment validation
Apart from increasing its communication channels, Meralco is also piloting back-end solutions to improve the customer experience, which includes the Real-time Payment Validation App. Through this app, Meralco field personnel are able to validate the status of Disconnection Field Orders before proceeding with the actual disconnection of customers’ meters. This serves as an additional safeguard so that customers who pay their bills even right before disconnection commences are no longer inconvenienced by having their power cut off. To date, the company estimates to have averted around 1,300 salisi disconnections with the help of this new app, which is slated for full rollout in July.
Partnerships with vital government agencies to promote safety and economic growth
Expect a stronger effort from Meralco to lower electricity bills, prevent fires caused by and profiteering through illegal connections, and speed up the energization of homes, buildings, and other establishments.
In order to better serve its customers and the general public, Meralco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of the Interior, and Local Government (DILG), and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
Meralco, in partnership with PNP, DILG, and BFP, will promote safety and economic growth through initiatives that will help resolve a variety of public concerns.
Through the landmark agreement, the power distributor, together with its partner agencies, will tackle illegal connections and the issues caused by these, as well as improve the process of obtaining the Certificate of Final Electrical Inspection (CFEI) required for energization.
Despite these dark and tumultuous times, the country finds itself powering through steadily and optimistically—and Meralco is helping light that path, balancing continuity of service with compassion.
