By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

The chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications says the Office of the Public Auditor is slow in auditing the financially troubled Commonwealth Utilities Corp. but OPA claims it is not required to do so.
Rep. Francisco S. Dela Cruz, Covenant-Saipan, said it is his understanding that OPA should have audited CUC as early as last year.
CUC is now in the process of privatizing its power plants on Saipan under a proposed 25-year franchise agreement whereby the winning contractor will sell electricity to consumers.
“I don’t understand why it has been over a year now without an audit on CUC. OPA was supposed to come up with a desk audit on CUC,” said Dela Cruz in an interview yesterday in his office.
On Friday, he wrote Public Auditor Michael Sablan to follow up on any audit updates that OPA may be doing on CUC.
Dela Cruz specifically requested a desk audit on CUC’s personnel.
Likewise, he asked if OPA has done any type of audit on CUC.
“As you may know, the people of the commonwealth have been placed in a desperate and trying predicament brought about by the exorbitant charges that CUC has imposed regarding its power services. It is for this very reason that CUC needs to be audited by OPA,” Dela Cruz said in a letter to Sablan.
“I am cognizant of the fact that the governor has appointed nominees to serve under the Public Utilities Commission which will study and approve rates for utility companies but until such time that this commission is organized and functioning, I feel that your office is required to perform the CUC audit since CUC is still a government public corporation,” Dela Cruz added.
He said if OPA came up with a travel audit for the now defunct Marianas Public Lands Authority, OPA should also audit CUC.
A law was passed to abolish MPLA and replace it with the Department of Public Lands on grounds that MPLA’s board and management mismanaged public lands through lavish travel spending and exorbitant honorarium fees.
In a separate interview, Sablan said OPA is not required to conduct a desk audit on CUC’s personnel.
He added that he just got Dela Cruz’s letter yesterday and that he will respond to it tomorrow.
“I’m preparing a response for Wednesday,” said Sablan in a phone interview, adding that his office does not play favorites on who to audit first.
Dela Cruz said CUC hasn’t been very cooperative in providing the Legislature with documents, specifically about its finances.
Dela Cruz earlier proposed to turn CUC into a “consumer-owned electric cooperative” instead of privatizing its power plants.
He fears that the entry of an independent power producer might result in even higher power rates.