THE chairman of the Senate committee on energy has backed a call for a review of the congressional franchise extended to privately owned National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to ensure that it is in line with the Constitution.

“My own personal opinion (is) you cannot delegate the power of eminent domain. That’s an exclusive power of the state,” said Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who chairs the energy panel.

“If there is expropriation it should be TransCo (National Transmission Corp.) that should be doing that,” he said.

He made the statement after TransCo’s announced that it would seek a more active role in crafting the transmission development plan, the blueprint for updating the country’s existing backbone of electricity transmission system.

“Expropriation is an exclusive power of the state,” Mr. Gatchalian told reporters. “So maybe we should review the franchise just to be in sync with the Constitution.”

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