The first concrete endeavor to install a privately-owned light and power company south of Davao City was in the late 1940s when the municipal council of Sta. Cruz, under Res. No. 290 dated November 15, 1947, granted Romulo V. Ramos a franchise covering the entire town after this was approved by the Provincial Board of Davao under Res. No. 185.
In the process, Ramos filed with the Public Service Commission (PSC) an application (Case No. 31457) to have a franchise and a corresponding certificate of public convenience and necessity issued, which the agency favorably decided on September 25, 1948.
Under the PSC ruling, the franchisee was authorized ‘to install, maintain and operate an electric light, heat and power service’ in Sta. Cruz town. On October 15, 1948, the requisite approval of the President was obtained. Initially, as stipulated in the certificate, Ramos was allowed to confine its operations ‘only in the barrio of Digos and in the poblacion of Sta. Cruz’ based on the submitted plans of the distribution systems.
Eight months later, Ramos, on June 25, 1949, filed with the PSC another application (Case No. 50771) to install an electric plant in the barrio of Padada, then part of the town of Sta. Cruz.
Three days later, Alejandro D. Almendras filed an application (Case No. 50831) with the PSC on June 28, 1949, for the approval of an electric franchise in the barrio of Padada, which the municipal council of Sta. Cruz granted under Res. No. 82 dated April 18, 1949, and ap-proved by the Provincial Board of Davao under Res. No. 770 dated May 31, 1949. A day thereafter, under Executive Order No. 236 dated July 1, 1949, Padada became a municipality.
Due to this, Almendras, a war veteran, was granted by the new town an electric fran-chise that would gain approval from the provincial board of Davao under Res. No. 948 on July 28, 1949. He also filed with the PSC an amended application for the franchise and the certificate of public convenience and necessity, to operate an electric light, heat and power service in the same town.
To address the issue, the PSC heard the applications of Ramos (Case No. 50771) and Al-mendras (Case No. 50831) and came up with a single decision favoring the former. As a re-sult, a petition for review, which reached the Supreme Court, was filed by Almendras. The tribunal in its October 22, 1951, ruling, sided with Ramos, saying: ‘We cannot attribute to the lawmakers [in Congress] an intention [resulting from the creation of the town of Padada] to lay down a rule which, though entirely purposeless, results in waste of time and money.’
Ramos’ victory was sustained after Congress passed a bill granting him a 50-year fran-chise for an electric light, heat and power system in the towns of Sta. Cruz and Digos under Republic Act (RA) 788, approved on June 21, 1952. It gave him ‘the right, privilege, and au-thority to construct, maintain, and operate an electric light, heat and power system’ to gener-ate and distribute electric light, heat and power in the two towns. The license was expanded under RA 3014on June 19, 1960 to include the towns of Bansalan, Padada, Malalag, Hagonoy and Lower Matanao.
On June 22, 1963, RA 3829 was enacted. Two old provisions, as a result, were expanded. Under Section 1, the grantee was given the added ‘right and privilege to install, lay and maintain on all streets, public thoroughfares, bridges and public places within said limits, poles, wires, transformers, capacitors, overhead protective devices, and pole line hardware, and other hardware, and other equipment necessary for the safe distribution of electric cur-rent to the public.’
Moreover, in Section 2, the National Power Corporation (NPC). after having set up lines in areas adjacent to or over the territories covered by the Ramos franchise, ‘may make avail-able its light, heat and power only after negotiation with and through the grantee.’
RA 3829 effectively terminated the municipal franchise granted to Ramos under RA 3014.
