MANILA, Philippines -- The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) cannot disconnect electricity automatically from the homes of alleged illegal users, the Court of Appeals ruled, affirming the decision by a lower court.In its 17-page decision, the 15th division of the appeals court, through Associate Justice Monina Arevalo-Zenarosa, made this point after it ordered the privately-owned power company to pay damages to former Ambassador Enrique Syquia. Syquia sued Meralco after it disconnected his electricity in 1999 when the firm found an alleged "jumper" or illegal connection inside his home. Meralco then asked Syquia to deposit P119,000 to its legal department, which was part of the P867,294 that the ambassador had to pay for a 60-month billing.
The lower court had ruled in favor of Syquia, prompting Meralco to elevate the case to the appeals court. But the appeals court affirmed the lower court's ruling and ordered Meralco to pay Syquia P357,000 in actual damages, P30,000 in moral damages, P10,000 in exemplary and corrective damages, P20,000 for attorney’s fees, with a 12-percent interest per annum from the date of the filing of the complaint or Nov. 6, 2001 until the amount would have been fully paid. The appeals court told Meralco that it had to follow what was stated under Republic Act 7832 or the or the Anti-Pilferage of Electricity Act which provided that “before immediate disconnection may be allowed, there has to be a written notice to the party caught violating the law.” The appeals court also said that discovery of the illegal use of electricity must have been personally witnessed by an officer of the law or an authorized representative of the Energy Regulatory Board (ERB). “In this case, the disconnection was effected immediately after the discovery of the alleged "jumper" which was witnessed only by Meralco employees,” the court said. "Indeed we cannot allow Meralco to act virtually as prosecutor and judge in imposing the penalty of disconnection due to alleged meter tampering. That would not sit well in a democratic country. After all, Meralco is a monopoly that derives its power from the government. Clothing it with unilateral authority to disconnect would be equivalent to giving it a license to tyrannize its hapless customers," it said. "To reiterate, Meralco had no legal right to immediately disconnect plaintiffs’-appellees' electrical supply without observing the requisites of law which, in turn, are akin to due process," the appeals court added. | 
