JUDGE Conrado Ragucos of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 16 has dismissed the petition for injunction filed by the Laoag City government against the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) on July 5. The petition for injunction was a result of an earlier threat of INEC to discontinue power supply to the city government if the local government unit would continue not to pay its monthly electric bills. The city government refusal to pay its monthly power bills was due to the unpaid franchise tax of INEC as the local government unit attempted to pay its bills through the unpaid taxes. Meanwhile, Atty. Jose Pastor, city legal counsel, stated clearly that the decision handed down by the court is no longer applicable as INEC officials, headed by Board President Lorenzo Rey Ruiz and officer-in-charge Renato Balintec, sat down with city government officials, led by Mayor Michael V. Fariñas, wherein a temporary resolution was reached. As a result, the city government now pays its monthly power bills while INEC now also pays P400,000 for the franchise tax. Pastor also clarified that the court decision will not affect the petition for declaratory relief filed at RTC Branch 12 wherein the court was asked whether INEC is exempt from paying franchise taxes to the city government. The Ilocos Times learned that an earlier decision on this case favored the city government but the power cooperative has filed a motion for reconsideration. Relative to this, Ruiz said the court decision on the petition for injunction has vindicated INEC. However, he stressed that he would still prefer a settlement with the city government so they would no longer have to battle in courts. He added that with the court decision, Ruiz said he believes the cooperative would still continue paying its monthly obligation on franchise tax to the city government though the matter would have to be presented to the whole board of directors and to their legal counsels again for their advise. Reacting to this, INEC legal counsel Emil Doloroso clarified that the motion for reconsideration filed at RTC Branch 12 has already been dismissed. He also stated his own opinion on the issue saying it might be better if INEC would file an administrative case against the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) just so the tax issues would be clarified. Though his plan still needs approval by the INEC board, Doloroso said that should it be granted a solution would be finalized. Presently, Doloroso said INEC is losing money every time it pays the franchise tax as he stressed that the cooperative should only pay 20% of the gross sales instead of the 100% being collected by the city government. In view of this, he said he plans to reopen the issue again to the board so they could take another action since the petition for injunction has already been dismissed. Dominic B. dela Cruz
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