Lopez group patriarch Oscar Lopez reiterated Wednesday that the family intends to keep not just their stake in, but also their control of, Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the country's biggest power retailer.

Oscar Lopez, the chairman of First Philippine Holdings Corp (FPHC), told reporters at the sideline of the stockholders meeting of FPHC unit First Gen Corp, that "We haven’t decided to sell it (Meralco shares). We intend to just keep it."

The Lopezes used to own a third of the company, but their stake has been whittled down to just 13 percent after FPHC, the Lopez's holding firm for power-related assets, sold a portion of its Meralco shares to Philippine Long Distance Co. (PLDT).

The deal between PLDT and the Lopezes is widely seen as the family's strategy to keep its control of the power retailer after the entry of San Miguel Corporation (SMC), a diversified conglomerate that's on a buying binge. The Lopezes were reportedly uneasy about the entry of SMC, which bought out the Meralco shares of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), a government pension fund and Lopez adversary.

Asked to comment on the 43 percent stake now being held by SMC in Meralco, Lopez said,” They want to create trouble with that 43 percent?”  

The family patriarch did not mince words, as usual. "The problem with SMC [is that] they’re going all over the place. You don’t know what they want to focus their attention on whether it is Meralco or Petron Corp.”

Petron is another power-related asset that SMC indirectly acquired a majority of before buying into Meralco. Petron is the country's biggest oil refiner and retailer.

While PLDT and SMC top officials have previously said they are willing to work with other members of the Meralco board, the elder Lopez said they are aware of SMC's continuing accumulation of Meralco shares in the stock market.

“Well, they (SMC) had some groups who bought additional shares. Then GSIS continued buying also some shares,” Lopez noted.

With the upcoming Meralco annual stockholders meeting on May 26, Lopez said he expects his younger brother, Manuel Lopez, to keep his post as chairman of Meralco. “My brother will continue maybe for a year or two, although he will step down as CEO sometime after the election,” he said.

Recently, the Energy Regulatory Commission approved Meralco's long delayed request for rate increase under the performance-based rate (PBR) mechanism.

"[We may] be able to earn something from Meralco when the PBR is fully implemented,” the Lopez patriarch said.

abs-cbnNEWS.com is the online news department of ABS-CBN Interactive Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. ABS-CBN, Meralco, First Philippine Holdings Corp, and First Gen are part of the Lopez Group of Companies.