‘Unbelievable!’

Manila Standard Today
Tuesday, 27 March, 2012 Written by Christine F. Herrera


A LAWMAKER allied with the administration on Tuesday said he wasn’t buying the Palace spin that President Benigno Aquino III was blameless for the power crisis in Mindanao, saying Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras was being made a fall guy.


“It is unbelievable that the President was not made aware of the power crisis in Mindanao,” Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said.


“He is the President. He should know about the problem of the 25 million people of Mindanao.”


Casiño said that as early as 2010 or the opening of the 15th Congress, Mindanao’s lawmakers had already started making noise about the rolling blackouts in Mindanao.


“How can the President be kept in the dark or how can he not know, when as early as the opening of the 15th Congress in 2010 the Mindanao lawmakers were already urging the Aquino government to do something about the power crisis in Mindanao?” Casiño said.


“It is unbelievable that the President was deaf to all that noise. Why do they want to keep the heat off the President by saying he was kept in the dark?”


The Palace on Tuesday denied that the President was kept in the dark, saying Almendras had briefed the President contrary to the claims of Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones.


Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda also defended Almendras over the accusations he did nothing to avert the crisis.


“Secretary Almendras is willing to enlighten Representative Palmones so that he will not be kept in the dark about the energy situation in Mindanao or to make him appear myopic or blind to the actions taken by Secretary Almendras in dealing with the Mindanao power situation,” Lacierda said.


But Casiño said that instead of putting the blame on everybody except the President, the Palace should admit that they failed to address the problem because they relied on the private sector to solve it for them.


“The problem is not lack of knowledge but how the administration approached the problem,” Casiño said.


“They expected the private sector to solve the power crisis for them since it was the administration’s plan to privatize the generation and distribution of power in Mindanao.


“The President should not only admit that he had neglected the power crisis. He should also admit that his friends wanted to acquire the power plants in Mindanao and the government did not lift a finger while the power crisis was lingering” because that would favor the private companies.


“The Lopezes, the Aboitizes, the Ayalas and the Sys who are now into power business in Mindanao are all friends of the President. And they all want to acquire the government-owned power plants.”


Casiño said the President should immediately intervene and take drastic action to solve the power crisis in Mindanao.


House Deputy Speaker Jesus Crispin Remulla said that if, indeed, the President’s men kept him in the dark, then they all should consider resigning.


“Either they resign or the President should fire all of them for keeping him in the dark,” Remulla said.


On Tuesday, Almendras took full responsibility for the ongoing power shortage but said 120 megawatts of capacity would be added by April 9.


“We assume full responsibility. I am not going to blame anyone,” Almendras told reporters.


“We are not passing the blame on anyone. We have been doing what we can possibly do.”


Almendras also denied that Mindanao was suffering up to 15-hour power outages, saying the rolling blackouts lasted only one to two hours.


Even if he had billions of pesos to deal with the problem, it would take time to build the needed power plants.


Almendras also rejected calls for his resignation.


“Why will I resign because of this? I have proof that we have done what we [could]. It just so happens that we don’t hold all the solutions.”


Earlier, Palmones accused Almendras of misleading and misguiding the President on the power situation in Mindanao.


Also on Tuesday, two senators agreed to a proposal to grant President Aquino emergency powers to address the Mindanao crisis, a move that the opposition dismissed as unnecessary.


Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Senator Francis Escudero agreed with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s proposal, but said safeguards should be in place to prevent any abuse in the implementation of reforms and remedial action to address the rotating blackouts on the island.


Sotto said the emergency powers must be “focused solely” on the power crisis. With Alena Mae Flores, Maricel Cruz, John Anthony Concepcion and Joyce Pangco Pañares