A sensitive matter

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The National Nutrition Council (NNC) is finalizing the Philippine Nutrition Profile Model (PNPM), a government policy tool being developed together with the Department of Health and the World Health Organization.

It aims to classify packaged food and beverages according to their levels of sugar, sodium, saturated fat and trans-fat and to use this classification as the foundation for two major regulatory interventions, namely the mandatory front-of-pack warning labels (FOPL) on products that exceed set thresholds, and the restrictions on how food and beverages can be marketed to children.

The DOH and its partners, including the Health Philippines Alliance, argue that regulating food supply at the point of sale is one of the most cost-effective tools available to reverse the growing number of Filipinos and children developing chronic kidney disease, diabetes and childhood obesity.

However, before the DOH and NNC finalize any rules, including PNPM thresholds, they should conduct a multi-sectoral consultation, giving substantive participation to food manufacturers, retailers, nutrition scientists, consumer welfare advocates and not only public health coalitions.

They should also await the WHO-contracted validation and Philippine market analysis, and commission a regulatory impact assessment covering the effects of the PNPM on small-and medium-sized food manufacturers, the availability of affordable food, and low-income consumers’ access.

The haphazard implementation of any policy could adversely affect poor families who rely on cheap packaged foods and might be forced to buy cheaper, unregulated options that may not be healthier or safer.  NNC’s own market analysis reportedly revealed that around half of everyday food products could fail the new standards. Not to mention that any policy change now comes at a really bad time, given rising fuel costs.

Rushing it could hurt Filipinos even more.

Transparency urged

Imagine the shock of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) when the board of directors of the South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative (Socoteco II) informed the country’s biggest electric distribution utility just last Friday that its proposal for a strategic partnership with Socoteco II had been rejected.

This was also after Meralco learned that the National Electrification Administration (NEA) had already awarded the deal to Ignite Power and Energy Corp., a new venture between Primelectric Holdings and MP Holdings, even without the conduct of a competitive bidding, a requirement under both the EPIRA Law and NEA’s own rules when there are two proposals.

Both companies have submitted separate, unsolicited proposals to the Socoteco II board aimed at improving Socoteco II’s services.

Socoteco II distributes electricity in General Santos City, Sarangani Province and the municipalities of Tupi and Polomolok in South Cotabato.

In an interview with this writer, Meralco senior vice president and chief external and government affairs officer Arnel Casanova revealed that Meralco first wrote the Socoteco II board about their unsolicited proposal in June of last year, which the board acknowledged only in January of this year, and they were asked for a proposal for purposes of discussion. “We made a presentation last Feb. 11, did not receive any feedback even after repeatedly calling and writing, until April 10 when we got the rejection letter,” he said.

Casanova disclosed that he testified before the Sangguniang Panglunsod of General Santos City last Tuesday, during which the councilors read a letter from NEA stating that it had approved the direct award of the contract by Socoteco II to Ignite Power. The award, however, still requires ratification by the cooperative member-owners.

“We have nothing against Ignite. What we are objecting to is the railroading of the process. We are now studying our options, “ he said.

Meralco is pushing for a competitive selection process to determine which partner will work with Socoteco II, ensuring transparency and insulating the process from political influence.

The country’s largest power retailer is seeking partnerships with Socoteco II, Batangas I Electric Cooperative Inc., and Batangas II Electric Cooperative, and under Meralco’s model, cooperatives would be converted into stock corporations, allowing their members to become actual stockholders while at the same time retaining the cooperative’s legal personality and franchise.

In the case of Socoteco II, Meralco is proposing to convert the cooperative into a stock corporation, with members owning a 30 percent stake. “But this sharing is flexible as we infuse more capital,” Casanova said. Meralco will also retain existing employees.

The Meralco official stressed that many cooperatives, including Socoteco II, struggle with a lack of capital for essential infrastructure. This, he explained, would require immediate capital infusion, which electric cooperatives, being non-stock, non-profit entities, cannot provide.

On the other hand, Casanova said that Ignite Power will create a new corporation to which all the assets and franchises of the power cooperative will be transferred. This, he emphasized, will take out the business of the cooperative.

Earlier, Casanova cautioned the Socoteco II board that a direct award and absence of a competitive  selection process, especially when superior or alternative offers are on the record, are highly vulnerable to being characterized as grave abuse of discretion.

NEA has yet to explain publicly under what specific provision of EPIRA or its own joint venture guidelines a direct award is legally justified. Bypassing competitive selection requires meeting a high bar, such as extreme urgency or circumstances where competition is genuinely not possible.

Meanwhile, Primelectric said that if successful, this will be their fourth distribution utility, after those in Iloilo, Negros Occidental, and Bohol, adding that Socoteco II will continue to exist as a cooperative and will retain its identity, management structure, and mandate to serve its member-consumers.

Primelectric president Roel Castro emphasized that frequent power outages, low voltage in remote areas, aging infrastructure, and high system losses are among the key challenges they aim to address, adding that their modernization program is intended to lower consumer power rates to competitive levels while improving reliability.

He added that the proposal would require approval from Socoteco II member-consumer owners through a referendum as a safeguard to strengthen transparency and accountability.

On the other hand, former senator Manny Pacquiao, whose MP Holdings holds a 30-percent stake in Ignite Power,  added that if approved, the partnership could support regional development by attracting investment, creating jobs, and positioning SOCCSKSARGEN as more investment-ready.

NLRC upholds Vibal chief reinstatement

Last April 6, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) fifth division affirmed that the compromise agreement restoring Maria Kristine Mandigma as chief executive of Vibal Group is valid and legally binding on the corporation.

The NLRC applied the doctrine of apparent authority, finding that Gaspar Vibal was the duly installed company chairman and president at the time the settlement was signed, that he appeared personally before the Labor Arbiter, and that his removal from office came only after the agreement was executed, a sequence the commission treated as material.

The majority shareholders, including sisters Nila Vibal Mata, Aida Vibal Gutierrez and Stella Vibal Lawson, argued that the settlement was void because their president acted without board authorization.

The NLRC, however, rejected that argument, finding that allowing a corporation to disown its officer’s acts on the basis of undisclosed internal limitations would expose employees to exactly the kind of bad-faith reversal that labor law was designed to prevent.

Vibal is 73 years old. It was built by people who understood that a publishing company serving public education carries a responsibility that outlasts any family’s internal disagreements. The governance crisis now unfolding is a test of whether that understanding survives. How it is resolved will matter well beyond the boardroom.

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