The Consunji-led company said the Department of Energy (DOE) was requiring it to surrender billions of pesos worth of mining equipment and proprietary know-how before it could join the auction, despite a law it says protects its ownership of those assets.
“In other words, the DOE is telling us not to bid,” SMPC said.
Rules under fire
The dispute centers on a new joint administrative order issued after the DOE canceled an earlier bidding round in September, with SMPC arguing that the asset turnover requirement contradicts Presidential Decree 972.
SMPC also accused the department of abandoning technical capability as the main criterion in favor of the highest financial offer, without requiring bidders to demonstrate that they could actually operate the mine.
The company said the process lacked bid bulletins, prequalification screening, a model contract and official responses to its repeated questions, leaving critical terms of the auction unresolved.
High stakes underground
SMPC has invested more than P55 billion in operations that require extracting coal from deposits roughly 350 meters below sea level, using hundreds of specialized machines and a workforce of around 4,000.
It warned that a new operator would have only months to acquire the equipment and train workers before the current mining contract expires in July 2027, raising the possibility of a production disruption.
“The highest bidder with zero mining experience will most likely produce zero coal output and zero government share,” SMPC said.
—Edited by Miguel R. Camus
