The letters should speak for themselves
According to the Department of Energy, Solar Philippines Power Projects Holdings Inc., founded by Rep. Leandro Leviste, was slapped with P24 billion in penalties for failing to deliver the power it had committed to supply under more than 30 service contracts with the government.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has imposed a penalty of P24 billion on Solar Philippines Power Projects Holdings Inc. (SPPPHI) for not fulfilling power supply commitments under multiple government contracts. However, SPPPHI's founder and chairman, Rep. Leandro Leviste, maintains that the DOE did not send a demand letter to him, but rather to the president of SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC), a company majority-owned by Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), which acquired control of SPNEC in 2023.
Leviste's camp argues that the actual DOE letter was sent to MGen, not SPPPHI or Leviste, and that SPNEC was provided with the relevant correspondence. MGen spokesperson Christer Gaudiano confirms that only one of the eight letters addressed to SPNEC pertained to a project acquired from Solar Philippines, while the remaining seven were sent to various SPNEC subsidiaries.
The defense aims to highlight the distinction between individual control over financial accounts and the structuring of financial arrangements. The source provides details about BPI accounts linked to Sara Duterte, including a time deposit opened in 2010 and a trust arrangement with her father's name. The defense contends that the financial circumstances surrounding high-ranking officials should be subject to scrutiny, but questions whether the defense's strategy of emphasizing control issues adequately addresses the underlying financial matters.
Written by urgent.news from Philippine Star Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
