More lawmakers call for renewal of Meralco’s legislative franchise

Two more senior administration lawmakers, on top of the previous two officials of the House of Representatives who endorsed the renewal of the Manila Electric Co.(Meralco) franchise, have supported the grant of another 25-year legislative franchise to the company.

- DELON PORCALLA

Reps. Sergio Dagooc and Presley de Jesus of party-list APEC and Philreca, respectively, affirmed their support for the extension of the power distributor's franchise, echoing the same sentiments of administration stalwarts Reps. Joey Salceda and Rufus Rodriguez.

Salceda sits as chairman of the ways and means panel, while Rodriguez heads the committee on constitutional amendments.

Both Dagooc and De Jesus have acknowledged the efforts of Meralco to distribute stable and reliable electricity to customers within its franchise area in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and select areas in Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon.

The country's largest private sector electricity distributor has a total of 7.8 million customers.