PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III said Monday he was open to a proposal to use nuclear technology in Mindanao to solve the power shortage in the region.
But he said it was important to ensure that whatever nuclear plant was built in Mindanao would conform to international safety standards, citing the environmental disaster in Fukushima, Japan.
Explaining the blackouts. President Aquino points to the chart to explain to reporters the load capacity of the Mindanao Grid in connection with the recurring blackouts on the island.
Former Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco proposed the use of small modular reactors, a relatively new and safer form of nuclear power, for Mindanao during last week’s power summit in Davao City.
Cojuangco said small modular reactors were favored by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“There is an ongoing study [on the possible use of nuclear power in Mindanao] by the Department of Science and Technology,” Mr. Aquino said.
But he was lukewarm to the proposals to stop the planned privatization of the Agus and Pulangi hydroelectric power plants.
“I never said I [was] totally in favor of privatizing it. But in Luzon, we have privatized a lot of plants and this resulted in increased capacity,” he said.
“What we want is to make power rates reasonable so there has to be excess capacity to spur competition.”
Mr. Aquino also ruled out the possibility of subsidizing the power rates in Mindanao.
“That is not a good strategy. Where would we get the funds for the subsidy? And if we make the power rates artificially low, we will not encourage citizens to consume only what they need.”
All 15 presidential appointees to the Mindanao Commission, composed of Regional Development Authority chairmen, will meet Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras and the President on April 19 in Manila to discuss the power crisis.
The Manila meeting comes as Mindanao’s residents were told to brace for 10- to 12-hour rolling blackouts starting today due to the shutdown of the 180-megawatt Pulangi hydroelectric plants for dredging.
Ramon Floresta, RDC co-chairman of General Santos City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio, said the Mindanao Commission would argue against the sale of the Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric plants and power barges.
“We believe the Mindanao Power Summit has failed, so we will recommend and hope to enlighten and ask Secretary Almendras and the President to heed the sentiments of Mindanao against privatization and spiking power rates,” said Floresta, also president of the Kidapawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Ronald Barrios, KCCI member and owner of two convenience stores, a coffee shop and an exclusive distributor of San Miguel Corp.’s B-Meg feeds and Coca Cola Bottlers, said that contrary to what the President claimed at the summit, the businessmen in Mindanao were doing their share in absorbing the losses.
“It is disappointing for the President to tell the people of Mindanao to pay more for electricity if we do not want blackouts,” Barrios told the Manila Standard.
“We are hurting enough... Paying more and getting less is what we have been doing,” Barrios said it was ironic that Kidapawan, which is host to 106-megawatt Mt. Apo geothermal plant, was experiencing up to eight hours of blackouts daily.
Floresta, who owns a 250-hectare banana plantation and a furniture business that employs more than 1,000 workers, said the crippling outages had been hurting the businesses in Mindanao.
Floresta, whose woodwork firm RNF Summit Industries produces 1,500 pallets a day that are used to transport the bananas and pineapples being exported abroad, has not been meeting his delivery deadlines.
Elmer Alipuyo, RNF Summit production manager, warned of possible layoffs if the crippling blackouts continued.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño called on President Aquino to “take off his blinders on the Mindanao power crisis and realize that paying a little more for electricity will have dire consequences on the island’s economy considering that the present rates are already high compared to the key cities in Asia.”
“The premise that Mindanao has been unjustifiably enjoying cheap power rates is totally wrong,” Casiño said.
“True, Mindanao has lower power rates than Luzon and the Visayas, but Mindanao is actually paying much more than most of the major cities in Asia.”
Casiño said the latest available comparative data showed that Mindanao had an effective residential rate of P6.69 per kilowatt hour. Luzon had P9.84 while the Visayas had P8.19.
Except for the CARAGA area, all the areas in the Mindanao had more expensive residential power rates than Hong Kong, he said.
“All in all, Mindanao is paying an average of P1.82 per kilowatt hour more for electricity than the 31 major cities in Asia and Oceania surveyed by the Japan External Trade Organization,” he said.
“If we make Mindanao’s power rates at par with the Visayas and Luzon, the island will lose its competitive edge. Good public policy dictates that power rates should be kept as low as possible to spur investments and keep the prices of commodities low. But the President’s policy is to increase prices to attract private power firms whose objective is to sell power at the highest possible rates. It’s just crazy!” With Christine F. Herrera
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/April/17)
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