(philstar.com) Updated April 16, 2012 03:04 PM
MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III on Monday reiterated that the government has no choice but to let consumers in Mindanao pay for higher price of electricity to solve the energy crisis.
At a briefing in Malacanang, Aquino said the govenment has been subsidizing a number of power projects in Mindanao and extending more grant would mean a further reduction in the government's limited resources to fund other social program.
"You know, subsidy is a...parang hindi masyadong magandang stratehiya ang subsidy. For instance, mayron tayong something like P1.8 trillion budget, we have something like P400 billion that can be allocated. The rest goes into personnel services, maintenance operating, et cetera. Iyong P400 billion will probably be the source of where we will get the subsidy. Now, that will translate into losses for roads, airport upgrades, for irrigation, for schools, for health services and so on and so forth," Aquino said.
Aquino also said he is open to studying the possibility of pursuing nuclear energy to address the power crisis,.
"We will study it (nuclear energy) again. Pero...there are other sources of energy that have less impact or potential negative impact that are available to us," Aquino said.
The ultimate goal for the Mindanao power crisis, Aquino said, is to increase supply for the island, which is also expected to bring price of electricity lower. Cheryl M. Arcibal
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