Insider spotlight:
In a decision dated April 30, 2025, the CA’s Special 11th Division granted the petition of the country's grid operator for certiorari and ruled that Dimalanta “should have recused herself from further participating” in the company’s fourth regulatory period reset application.
“We find that respondent gravely abused her discretion when she refused to [withdraw] from the proceedings a quo despite her evident bias and partiality against the petitioner,” the decision stated.
NGCP had sought the court’s intervention after the ERC failed to act on nine motions for reconsideration and related pleadings filed in 2023. The firm cited public remarks made by Dimalanta before the formal filing of its rate reset application in December 2022.
NGCP pointed to statements made during an October 2022 press briefing, where Dimalanta was quoted as saying the firm's transmission rates were expected to decrease. NGCP argued that such comments demonstrated that the ERC chief had already formed an opinion about the outcome of the application.
The court agreed, noting that Dimalanta made public pronouncements on the case even though the application had yet to be submitted.
“Respondent could not be expected to render a fair judgment when she already has an outcome in mind, waiting only to be formalized after petitioner undergoes the charade of formal hearing,” the ruling stated.
It added that by making premature public statements, Dimalanta undermined NGCP’s right to a fair and impartial regulatory process.
NGCP’s fourth regulatory period reset application covers the company’s capital and operational expenditures from 2016 to 2022, as required under the ERC’s rules for setting transmission wheeling rates issued in September 2022.
— Edited by Daxim L. Lucas
