THE Commission on Audit (COA) has raised alarm over ₱10.77 billion in uncollected financial liabilities linked to 37 terminated solar energy contracts, with firms under the Solar Philippines group founded by Batangas Representative Leandro Leviste accounting for 96% — or roughly ₱10.39 billion — of the total amount due.
In its findings submitted to the Department of Energy (DOE), the audit body warned that the government faces substantial risk of non‑recovery and emphasized the urgent need for rigorous enforcement and oversight of renewable energy service agreements. The cancellations also meant the country lost an estimated 6.796 gigawatt‑hours of potential clean‑energy capacity that could have strengthened domestic supply and sustainability goals.
The scale of the shortfall is staggering: the ₱10.39 billion owed by Solar Philippines alone dwarfs the entire 2025 operating budget of the DOE’s Solar Energy Management Division — which stood at just ₱21.02 million — representing nearly 494 years of the division’s annual funding. COA noted that the unpaid amounts encompass unfulfilled work and training commitments, development assistance fees, and substantial contractual penalties.
The DOE has already elevated the matter to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to initiate legal proceedings for recovery, and has indicated total claims against Solar Philippines could reach ₱24 billion when including obligations from previously terminated agreements.
The controversy runs parallel to a separate investigation at the Office of the Ombudsman, where Leviste and his mother, Senator Loren Legarda, face complaints of plunder and graft alleging the firm failed to deliver on solar power commitments under its congressional franchise.
Both are currently abroad in France; Legarda remains on extended medical leave. Solar Philippines has defended its record, pointing to the 3,500‑megawatt Terra Solar project in Nueva Ecija as a landmark initiative it helped develop, and describing contract terminations as standard practice in what it characterizes as essentially exploration permits.
COA has directed the DOE to exhaust all legal and administrative avenues to collect the funds, strengthen contract monitoring, and revise policies to prevent future project cancellations. The DOE has responded by reopening vacated sites to qualified developers and finalizing a blacklisting policy that would bar delinquent firms from new contracts until all outstanding obligations are settled.
metrosundaily
