As National Power Corporation (NPC) president Froilan A. Tampinco openly expressed his desire for an extended tenure, Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras indicated that he will refer his case to the power firm’s board for any decision.

When asked if he indeed made referral for Tampinco to be retained in his post, the energy chief forthrightly stated that “we have not formalized any decision as of yet. The Board will have to discuss and decide.”

And since he is not the chairman of the NPC board, Almendras stressed he “can only suggest to the DOF (Department of Finance) Secretary”, whatever outcome the Board will be agreeing upon as to the state-run power firm’s highest post.

Section 1 of Memorandum Circular No. 1 issued by Malacanang prescribed that “all Presidential appointees under coterminous status … are deemed separated from the service as of noon of June 30, 2010.”

The policy further provided that “in cases where the head of the agency or office has resigned and whose resignation has been accepted or is deemed separated as of June 30, 2010 and no replacement has been appointed or designated, the next in rank and most senior official shall take over as Officer-in-Charge to perform the duties and discharge the responsibilities of the position until July 31, 2010 or until a replacement has been appointed or designated whichever comes first.”

Tampinco’s extended stay at NPC is being met with escalating degree of resistance from employees because of too many unresolved problems in the power firm during his reign.

Employees at the power firm describe their sitting chief as one who is regularly on overseas trips when he had too many domestic problems to deal with – especially at the time when suppliers were going after NPC but it can’t easily settle because of drained coffers.

NPC, along with successor-company Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), also flagrantly neglected series of pleas made by independent power producers (IPPs) on the resolution of the court battle-tangled real property taxes (RPT) which under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contracts should have been to the account of the state-owned power firm.

The long-standing tax arrears under the IPP contracts would be a colossal problem that the IPPs will be appealing soon to the energy chief and to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

In the roster of policy agendas issued by the Department of Energy (DoE) last week, it was emphasized that the department and “its attached agencies will be streamlined and rationalized to have clear-cut and distinct mandates and that qualification standards, especially eligibility, will be strictly followed.”

The DoE similarly noted that it will work with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) “to ensure that the performance of the DoE and the technical energy experts within the department and its attached agencies will be evaluated rationally and systematically through an effective and measurable performance management system to be approved by the CSC.”

Such initiative, the energy department said is aligned in “directly linking the CSC Office Performance Evaluation System (CSC-OPES) with the Department of Budget and Management’s Organizational Performance Indicator Framework (OPIF) to ensure the accountability of government agencies and officials.”