Senators are poised to mount an inquiry into the controversial deal involving the “prized” Malampaya natural gas asset.
While backing the probe, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto indicated, however, that lawmakers may be tied up preparing for an upcoming campaign to pursue the probe full time.
“Yes. I think there will be a need to hear this,” Recto affirmed in a text message to the BusinessMirror. He added: “Unfortunately, we may have no more time since campaign is around the corner; but let us see. It is a very important issue as it affects our energy security.”
For his part, Minority Sen. Francis Pangilinan indicated they are keen to know “why the prized Malampaya natural gas project went to the upstart Udenna Corp. when the government has the power to exert its stake over the country’s crucial energy asset.”
Pangilinan recalled that during Tuesday’s marathon Senate deliberations on the 2022 budget of the Department of Energy (DOE) which lasted near midnight Tuesday he had asked Duterte administration officials to explain government’s failure to exercise its right of first refusal that, he noted, would have “given it the option to keep control of the natural gas field” that provides 40 percent of Luzon’s energy needs.
The opposition lawmaker lamented it was “very disturbing to listen to the reason given why the Department of Energy did not consider taking or exercising its right of first refusal on the basis of a sweeping, general statement of negative facts and constraints.”
Pangilinan rued that “we are given just a broad statement to justify the turnover to a private corporation of a billion-dollar worth of assets,” protesting, “This is incredulous. We deserve a better explanation.”
In the ensuing controversy, Senate leaders opted to defer approval of the DOE budget and its attached agencies, even as energy officials indicated they were ready to provide senators the “relevant documents and decisions justifying the sale to Udenna,” including minutes of the meetings related to the decision, and various services of contracts. 30