THE sale of shares of Bohol Water Utilities Incorporated (BWUI) to Salcon International Inc, (SII) has raised serious concern as the Sangguniang Panlalawigan tackled it during the regular session on Tuesday presided over by Vice-Gov. Nick Besas.
The said sale involved 12 million common shares owned by SPHIL Investments PTE LTD was known only to the SP members after James Roy N. Villareal, director of SPHIL has written a letter dated November 26, 2024 to Gov Aris Aumentado, informing the said share disposal.
The SP public utilities committee found that “the absence of prior disclosure regarding SPJHIL’s corporate identity and entry into the consortium has resulted in ambiguity, prompting calls for full transparency and verification of all records to protect the interest of both the provincial government and the consuming public.”
This, despite, the fact that the Provincial Legal Office (PLO) has cited an opinion dated April 4, 2025 to Besas that affirmed “the share transfer is allowable, (but) concerns were raised regarding SPHIL’s prior involvement in BWUI, as its participation was not reflected in the official records of the provincial government.”
It also discovered that under clause 5.4 of the joint Venture Agreement (JVA) executed in August 2000, “it provides the transfer of shares to a holding company remains subject to the approval of the other party, which concurrence shall not be unreasonably withheld.”
It will be recalled that the Provincial government of Bohol has a stake of 30% of the ownership of BWUI based on the said JVA after the privatization of then Provincial Public Utilities Department (PPUD), including the electric division, now known as Bohol Light of More Power company.
In his public Utilities committee report on Tuesday, veteran provincial Board Member Atty. Tomas D. Abapo, Jr., moved “to remand (return) the matter to the executive department for creation of a technical working group to further review and issue a formal endorsement to SP.
The TWG is to be composed of Local Finance Committee (LFC), Provincial Legal Office (PLO), Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) and other offices, the report said.
It is tasked to find out whether SPHIL is the registered holder of the said 12 million common shares and for SII to provide proof that it is the holdings company of SPHIL company and for PLO to issue a legal opinion and furnish copy of the same to SP. (rvo)
