Napocor eyes Malampaya fund

National Power Corp. (Napocor) wants to tap P770 million from the Malampaya funds to help fund the operations of its small power utilities group (SPUG) and ensure the continued supply of electricity in the remote and far-flung areas in the country.

The P770 million represented the remaining amount from the P4.37 billion that Napocor had earlier advanced for the preservation of the mothballed 620-megawatt Bataan nuclear power plant (BNPP) from 1986 to December last year.

Napocor spokesman Dennis Gana said the company wanted to use the remaining amount for SPUG, only if it would be made available by the government through the Department of Budget and Management.

“We will tap whatever financial resources are made legally available to us,” Gana said.

The P4.37 billion is now being reimbursed by the national government in staggered payments being sourced from the Malampaya Gas Fund, which consisted of royalty fees paid to the government for the extraction of natural gas from the Malampaya fields in offshore Palawan.

For this year, the national government made two reimbursements of P2 billion and P1.6 billion, bringing to P3.6 billion the total amount that was released to Napocor from the Malampaya Gas Fund. This meant that Napocor has only P770 million left for reimbursement.

Napocor is experiencing a financial dilemma due to its accumulating unsettled obligations with fuel and other suppliers as well as incurred loans, which were already due for payment. This has been aggravated by the Department of Justice’s opinion saying Napocor had no legal personality under its charter to issue new bonds or other forms of indebtedness.