Next pork frontier: Energy

Nosy Tarsee, always with her ear to the ground, got the tea on how a rehabilitation project meant to spruce up seven run-of-river plants under the state-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management’s (PSALM) watchful eye is supposedly chugging along toward a 2028 finish line, all thanks to the Marcos administration’s big push.

PSALM officials touted timelines such as 10 days to approve or reject a proposal, 90 days for the deep-dive evaluation, and another 90 to 150 days for negotiations. But Nosy Tarsee overheard from her sources that things got messy back in October 2025.

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center greenlit and endorsed an unsolicited bid for modernizing the Agus-Pulangi complex, placing it under formal review per the PPP Code.             

Just weeks later, the same PPP Center endorsed a second unsolicited proposal for the exact same Agus facilities.

It was sneakily bundled with the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative’s (Lasureco) power distribution undertaking.

Think of road contracts that have duplicates in the budget, where the project is realized, but the cost is doubled for a 100 percent kickback.

According to the grapevine, the maneuver flouts the PPP Code’s rules. The implementing rules provide a 10-day window for “similar” proposals to be submitted.

The twin proposals, both targeting Agus I and II with basically the same rehabilitation and operations details, raise eyebrows.

The second one showed up way past the invitation deadline and should have been bounced back to the sender.

Calling them “not similar” just because of the extra Lasureco component is like putting lipstick on a pig.

Nosy Tarsee’s squealers, who are stakeholders in the industry, are now urging the PPP Center to step up, since PPPs only thrive when the game is played fair, transparent and consistent, with no shortcuts and no favorites.

Mindanao’s power lifeline, electricity bills and public faith also hinge on how the infrastructure project is handled.