PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed lawyer Jesse Hermogenes Andres as the new head of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Malacañang announced on Saturday. In a Facebook post, the Presidential Communications Office said that Andres has been designated as "officer-in-charge, chairman and chief executive officer" of the ERC. Andres' appointment, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Friday, takes effect immediately. In a memo addressed to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, Bersamin said Andres will serve in the post until a replacement is designated. With this, Andres is authorized to receive representation and transportation allowances and extraordinary expenses based on applicable rates upon assuming office. "Funds for this purpose shall be charged against the appropriations of the ERC, subject to the availability thereof, and to accounting and auditing requirements," the memorandum read. Before his appointment, Andres served as an undersecretary of the Department of Justice and as executive director of the agency's Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking. Andres took up his law degree from the University of the Philippines. He previously worked with the Ponce Enrile Cayetano Bautista Reyes and Manalastas Law Offices of now Chief Presidential Legal Adviser Juan Ponce Enrile and the late Renato Cayetano, who was the father of current Senate Committee on Energy chairman Pia Cayetano. Andres also served previously as chief of staff during the vice presidency of Noli de Castro. He will take over the position vacated by ERC Chairman Monalisa Dimalanta, who was put under a six-month preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman early this month. In a statement, Dimalanta said she would "immediately cease to perform her functions as chairperson and chief executive officer of the ERC," starting September 9, but ensured that "all operations of the agency shall continue to function, to the extent possible and as required by the exigencies of service." The suspension order on Dimalanta stemmed from a complaint filed by the National Association of Electricity Consumers Inc. accusing her of negligence of duty for delayed action on rate reset, primarily for utility giant Manila Electric Company m. She claimed that the Ombudsman's ruling "does contain some allegations of the complaint, without providing, however, any statement as to the evidence submitted by [the] complainant that became the basis for the issuance of the preventive suspension Order." Dimalanta said her legal team has been "studying the matter in order to take all available legal remedies given the circumstances." Appointed by Marcos in 2022, Dimalanta's term at the ERC is set to run until July 2029.
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