Udenna through its lawyer Atty Raymond Zorilla said the Malampaya deal is above board. There is no law requiring that the sale of shares of stocks that require prior govt approval. The management of the gas fields shall be under the same persons who are now running the facility.
The group decried making the deal a political battlefield. A graft charge has been filed at the ombudsman
The deal was subject of an investigation by committee headed by Sen Win Gatchalian and alleged to be "lutong makaw" (He is a Chinese and businessman too
Dennis Uy was reported to have spent $190 million for the deal (about P9,5 billion)
The criticism vs the deal were based on alleged crony relationship with the President (he is from Davao and was alleged to have contributed plenty to the 2016 election campaign of PDU30) and lack of capital and expertise to push with the deal.
Uy however has to contend with declining gas reserves at Malampaya LNG production of Malampaya declining It is down by 50% compared last year. And the gas field will be completely exhausted by 2027. I would comment that Udenna must be crazy to enter into a deal in field that would be exhausted in 5 years.
To run the NG fed power plants in Batangas like the Ilijan and Sta Rita, the regassification facility are now being built.
