World War II. The equipment and tracks of the system was severely damaged during the war and had to be removed. Power generation and distribution By 1915, electricity generation and distribution became the main MERALCO's main income generator, overtaking its public transportation operations in terms of revenue. In 1919, it changed its official name to Manila Electric Company. By 1920, the company's power capacity had grown to 45 million kWh. In 1925, MERALCO was acquired by the utility holding company Associated Gas and Electric, which had begun a massive expansion throughout the United States and Canada. With AGECO's financial backing, MERALCO began acquiring a number of existing utility companies in the Philippines, enabling the company to expand beyond Manila. By 1930, MERALCO had completed construction of the Philippine's first hydroelectric power plant, the 23MW Botocan Hydro Station. At the time, this plant was one of the largest engineering projects in Asia and constituted the largest single private capital investment in the Philippines. The additional capacity allowed the company to begin hooking up customers throughout the metropolitan area. To drive demand for more power, MERALCO also opened a retail store in order to sell electric home appliances. World War II During the Second World War, the Japanese occupying forces forcibly transferred all of MERALCO's assets and holdings to the Japanese-controlled Taiwan Power Company. Postwar By war's end, most of the former Meralco facilities had been destroyed. AGECO was reorganized as General Public Utilities Corporation or GPU in 1946. MERALCO's autobus franchise was sold to Halili Transport. Acquisition by the López group In 1962, Eugenio López, Sr. of the influential López family of Iloilo put together Meralco Securities Corporation (MSC), which acquired MERALCO, making it wholly Filipino-owned. During 1962-72, he increased MERALCO's power generating capacity by five times with the building of additional power stations in the Manila area with two more planned in Rizal Province. The Meralco Building, designed by National Artist of the Philippines for Architecture José María Zaragoza, was built during this period. The Meralco Theater within it was inaugurated shortly thereafter, in March 1969. Martial law and Romualdez takeover In September 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos, who had begun feuding with the Lopezes, declared Martial Law, acquiring and consolidating power and effectively extending his beyond the constitutional term limit which would have forced him to step down in 1973. A few weeks later in November 1972, he issued Presidential