VICTIM OF POWER STRUGGLE? CUC legal counsel quits

Assistant Attorney General Bill Ohle has reportedly resigned as legal counsel of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, apparently a victim of the power struggle within the board following the ouster of former Chair Rosario M. Elameto.

He handed his resignation letter to CUC Executive Director Timothy P. Villagomez immediately after the election of Jesus T. Guerrero as chair last Thursday during a board meeting.

When sought over the weekend for comment, Mr. Ohle neither confirmed nor denied the report, saying only that he would respond to questions this week.

According to sources, Mr. Villagomez accepted his resignation on the day he submitted the letter. The top utility official could not be reached for comment.

But Mr. Ohle’s resignation from CUC was prompted by Ms. Elameto’s ouster — “the power from whom he depended so much in the past few months,” said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

During the Thursday meeting, the legal counsel was contradicted by board member Laura I. Manglona when he said the planned election of new officers that day would need a 24-hour public notice.

With a split vote slightly favoring the holding of the election, Mr. Guerrero went on to win four members of the seven-man board to his side and assumed the chairmanship from Ms. Elameto, who held the post for only eight months — short of the one-year term as provided under CUC rules.

Mr. Ohle came under fire in 1998 after the selection of Marubeni-Sithe as contractor of the controversial Saipan power plant. He was part of the in-house evaluation committee that included Mr. Villagomez, comptroller Yenny Tom and former CUC Technical Service Manager Mike Randall.

Bidders protested the decision by the panel to award the $120 million contract to the Japanese conglomerate and its U.S. partner as they questioned their capabilities and professional background to handle the project.

Due to mounting opposition, Mr. Ohle and the rest of the committee recused in September 1998 from further participation in the re-evaluation of the proposed 80-megawatt plant being undertaken by independent power consultants from Burns & McDonnell.

In recent weeks, Mr. Ohle had served as spokesperson for the government-owned utility corporation regarding the power project, particularly after he recommended to the board to re-bid it for a 60-MW plant as CUC procurement regulations forbid alteration of the initial request for proposal.

Citing its shaky financial condition and the decline in power demand amid the continuous economic difficulties confronting the island, the board voted last January to collapse the original RFP and comply with the assessment of the Kansas City-based engineering consultants for a smaller-sized plant.