Napocor board names new president and CEO

National Power Corp. (Napocor) will look at ways to increase and enable the participation of the private sector in the energy industry, its new chief said on Thursday.

In a media release, Napocor announced that its board elected Fernando Martin Y. Roxas as its new president and chief executive officer after his appointment by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

“I will move [Napocor] to look at ways at increasing and enabling private sector participation, and internally, to look at ways and means to achieve more by using less,” Mr. Roxas said.

Mr. Roxas previously served as a geologist at Napocor in 1978, and as manager of its corporate planning group in 1990. He also led an ad hoc group tasked to study and craft Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.

“He will work on increasing access to sustainable energy in off-grid areas and promote private sector participation,” the Department of Energy said in a separate media release.

Napocor holds the electrification mandate over the small power utilities group, or SPUG, which is tasked with energizing off-grid areas.

Last week, the DoE gave clearance to Napocor to debt-finance its missionary electrification program, citing a legal opinion from the Department of Justice.

In an earlier statement, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said that a legal opinion authorized Napocor to establish a credit line with banks that would allow it to manage the volatility of fuel prices that have affected its financial position.

Napocor manages the transmission systems of Palawan, Masbate, Marinduque, Catanduanes, and Oriental and Occidental Mindoro. — Ashley Erika O. Jose