IF there was a common thread that bound the Napoles NGOs, that was their grand names, names that were drawn from the loftiest adjectives in the Pilipino language. It was always “masagana” or “ ginintuan” or words that invoked, nobility of purpose. That such lofty names would be used as fronts for the worst legislative scandal in our history—a scam that wasted more than P10 billion in public funds—has triggered the inevitable:  public wariness over similarly-named NGOs.

So when an NGO named Matuwid na Singil sa Kuryente Consumer Alliance (MSK) was made part of a high-level joint study group created by the Department of Energy to study the critical issues of power pricing and power supply, red flags were naturally raised. And legitimate questions were asked.