THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) was able to secure approval for 134 new positions from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), allowing the agency to start recruiting new lawyers and technical staff.

“We have 32 new lawyers and about 60 technical people and the rest, lower ranking officials,” said ERC Chairman Jose Vicente B. Salazar in a recent interview “But we never expected this. We thought that we would not get it.”

He said the additional manpower would be a big help to the agency’s current complement of 249 as he called DBM’s decision “generous.” He said the commission currently has only five lawyers in its legal services division.

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