MANILA, Philippines – Batangas 1st District Leandro Leviste denied he took advantage of the franchise granted to his company during the Rodrigo Duterte administration for personal gain. 

In an interview with radio DZBB on Friday, January 16, the son of Senator Loren Legarda Leviste belied the accusation of Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla that he made a profit from “selling” a congressional franchise to Manny V. Pangilinan-led Manila Electric Company (Meralco).

Leviste said his company that got a 25-year franchise in 2019 — Solar Para sa Bayan Corporation (SPBC) — stopped operating in 2022, adding that he even lost money from it after failing to get permits for its renewable energy projects, through no fault of his company.

“Wala akong bineneta na prangkisa na kumita ako,” he said. (I did not sell any franchise where I earned a profit.) 

Remulla had used harsh words on Leviste, saying the young congressman had no shame for “flipping” his solar business to the Meralco group. 

But Leviste clarified in the radio interview that Remulla, as well as the Department of Energy (DOE), was probably referring to SPBC, which he said is already defunct.

The DOE has slapped P24 billion in penalties against Leviste’s solar companies for failing to deliver nearly 12,000 megawatts in renewable energy that were supposed to come on stream in 2024-2025.

“The company [SPBC] stopped operating years ago, and consequently, the franchise was ipso facto revoked,” Leviste said. 

Meralco subsidiary, Meralco PowerGen Corporation (MGEN), also denied last Sunday that the company it acquired majority control from Leviste — Solar Philippines New Energy Corporation (SPNEC) — is “separate and distinct” from SPBC, and that MGEN has not acquired any shares in SPBC. MGEN’s energy business is also not dependent on any congressional franchise.

Leviste said Congress also passed Republic Act No. 11646,  signed into law on January 21, 2022 — An Act Promoting the Use of Microgrid Systems to Accelerate the Total Electrification of Unserved and Undeserved Areas Nationwide — which no longer required congressional franchises to operate microgrids in unserved or underserved areas. 

This law, he said, “superseded” and made irrelevant the franchise granted to SPBC. “That’s why the company stopped,” Leviste said, adding that the DOE should have known about this already. 

He also belied the allegation that the Meralco group bought shares in his company for the franchise it got during the Duterte administration in 2019. 

The Meralco group, he said, bought into SPNEC, which has ongoing solar power projects, including the Meralco Terra Solar Poject, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. helped break ground for in Nueva Ecija on November 21, 2024. 

The Meralco Terra Solar Project, spanning 3,500 hectares in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, is said to be the largest integrated solar and battery storage facility in the world.

“Once fully operational by 2027, this facility will deliver 3,500 megawatts peak of solar power to the Luzon grid, with 4,500 megawatt-hour battery energy storage,” Marcos had said during the groundbreaking. 

Leviste said various electric utility companies had opposed the entry of SPBC in their respective jurisdictions, fearing the competition and possible loss of business. 

He said SPBC would have taken off and supplied renewable energy to underserved areas had it been able to get permits from authorities. 

Leviste said he used the money he made from selling his stake in SPNEC to the Meralco group for “passive investments.” These include buying shares in ABS-CBN where his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, started a career in broadcast journalism, and investments in real estate.

No longer involved in SPNEC

Leviste also addressed the issues raised by Energy Secretary Sharon Garin, i.e. failure to put up renewable energy projects as committed to the government, and failure to divest from his companies as required under the Constitution. 

He said the fines apply to SPNEC, the company from which he had already divested after the Meralco group had accumulated more than half of the shares in the company in November 2023 for over P15 billion.

Since he had already divested from the company, Leviste said he is no longer involved in its day-to-day operations. 

Leviste admitted that he still owns Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Incorporated (SPPHI), but said this company has no more renewable energy projects. He, however, acknowledged that SPPHI still has shares in SPNEC. 

He claimed that the issue over the penalities for failure to put up renewable energy projects should be addressed to SPNEC, now owned by the Meralco group, and not to his holding company, SPPHI.  

As far as he knows, these penalites are already being discussed by the DOE and SPNEC. 

On Wednesday, January 14, SPNEC disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it received a notice of termination for its Sta. Rosa project, and that it had filed a notice of force majeure last year. 

“The Company is in discussions with the Department of Energy regarding said force majeure claim and intends to request for the reconsideration of the termination,” SPNEC said.

Leviste acknowledged that SPPHI has also been slapped fines by the DOE but he said this was not that much, only in the “millions.”

He also denied that his solar energy ventures had little to show for — only 2% completed as alleged by Garin — citing the Meralco Terra Solar Project as an example. 

Leviste filed on Friday a P110-million libel complaint in Balayan in his home province of Batangas against Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro for claiming in her vlogs, uploaded on Atty. Claire Castro YouTube, that he made money from selling his franchise. Castro said on Friday that her comments were based on what Remulla said in a radio show on radio DZRH.

Prior to filing the libel complaint, Leviste told DZBB that Remulla would not be included in the libel complaint, despite making the same accusation, since he is an impeachable officer, and because the Ombudsman is a friend of his mother. – Rappler.com

For more in-depth analyses into the Leandro Leviste solar energy business controversy, read these Vantage Point articles: