DoE sues Leviste over energy awards

The Department of Energy (DoE) filed an estafa complaint against Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste and two company officers for allegedly using deceit and misrepresentation to secure solar and wind energy awards they never intended to develop, but instead sought to land-bank for transfer or sale.

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin filed the supplemental complaint before the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office.

Garin had earlier sued Leviste for alleged violation of the Public Service Act over his company’s failure to provide electricity to remote and underserved communities, seven years after it was granted a legislative franchise.

She said the estafa complaint was filed after the DoE obtained documents and discovered additional facts allegedly showing deceit and fraudulent representations by Leviste and fellow respondents Hazel Iris Lafuente and Irma Flaminiano, officers of the Solar Philippines group.

According to Garin, the respondents submitted documents claiming their companies were eligible and qualified for the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP), which awards long-term power supply contracts to renewable energy developers.

Leviste and the other respondents also signed performance bonds that the government could claim if the developers failed to deliver.

Based on these submissions, the DoE awarded Leviste’s companies 1,350 megawatts of solar capacity and 30 MW of wind capacity.

The DoE later found that the companies allegedly did not meet financial qualification requirements when they registered for the program.

Garin said Solar Philippines Commercial Rooftop Projects Inc. and Solar Philippines Visayas Corp. had negative equity, while SP New Energy Corp.’s equity was below the 30 percent contribution typically required to finance utility-scale solar projects of comparable size.

She alleged the respondents deliberately withheld these disqualifications from the DoE.

Garin also noted that none of the awarded capacity was delivered by 25 December 2025. Work programs were repeatedly missed, performance securities were allowed to lapse, and renewable energy rights were assigned, restructured or sold, she said.

“Taken together, this conduct shows what Respondents intended from the start. They never meant to build. They obtained these state-conferred rights by deceit and land-banked them — holding public concessions undeveloped until they could be assigned, restructured, or sold,” Garin said.

She accused Leviste’s group of obtaining scarce government energy concessions for private gain at the expense of the State, qualified bidders they displaced and consumers who did not receive the promised power.

Garin said the failure to deliver the capacity also burdened consumers by allegedly inflating electricity clearing prices and increasing reserve procurement costs.

The DoE chief said the government concessions were valuable and limited, and that their misuse constituted more than an administrative lapse, impairing the State’s regulatory authority and imposing financial burdens on consumers.