Industry expects ‘fast learning curve’ for new energy secretary

by Myrna Velasco May 30, 2016 (updated)

http://www.mb.com.ph/industry-expects-fast-learning-curve-for-new-energy-secretary/

The energy sector is fervently wishing that incoming Energy Secretary Alfredo Cusi will be fast on the learning curve given the pressing concerns and issues yet to be addressed in various segments of the industry.

Many industry players have “lame expectations” of an appointment with barely zero energy background, although the others would still want to give Cusi the benefit of the doubt.

Overall though, the entire industry is yearning for an energy secretary who is practically  “returning from war” –  one who is enthusiastic and dedicated in helping solve the woes of the sector; not much like the disappointing ones that the sector had to deal and live with in recent years.

When asked by reporters, Alsons Consolidated Resources, Inc. chairman Tomas I. Alcantara, who is open on his support to the Duterte presidency, has this unsolicited advice to the incoming energy chief: “he has to do a lot of reading, a lot of studies.”

Alcantara reckoned that given the stature of the energy sector as a very critical component and backbone of the Philippine economy, “he (Cusi) has to move fast.”

The Alcantara group chair, who also served government previously via the Department of Trade and Industry, divulged that he had actually talked with Cusi when he congratulated him for being designated in the Department of Energy (DOE) portfolio and relayed that he has sounded off the same piece of advice to him.

Prior to this appointment, Cusi was general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) under the Arroyo administration. In that stint, he was not able to log a sterling performance because that was the period when the country’s aviation sector was downgraded to category 2. Most of Cusi’s professional experience had been in the transport sector.