Davao slum residents protest power-rate hike

Business Mirror Written by Manuel T. Cayon / Reporter

TUESDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2010 13:10

DAVAO CITY—Residents of Agdao, this city’s largest slum district, staged a noise barrage and street protest on Monday night as the opening salvo of public protests against the increase in the electric bills of consumers. The protesters lined themselves up at both sides of the section of the busy R. Castillo Street in barangay Ubalde in Agdao and displayed sacks with slogans demanding a rollback of power rate and refund of payments collected earlier in the middle of this year. The more than 100 protesters were mostly women and children who lighted candles and went on a brief noise barrage. Tals Mibulus, 39, a convener of Lihuk Agdao (Move Agdao), said the protest was supposed to be started by a 15-minute switching off of lights to highlight a candle-lighting and noise barrage, but the street lights prevented them from doing it. “We want to tell the Davao Light and Power Co. [DLPC] that the residents of Agdao are complaining about this increase in our electric bills,” he said. “We are calling the rest of Davao City to join us in making our voice heard.” The protest was initiated by the Lihuk Agdao, an organization formed in 2007 by the leaders of the Catholic Church’s Basic Ecclessial Communities, locally called Gagmay’ng Kristohanong Katilingban. They were joined by the urban-poor group Kadamay. Yolanda Duhaylungsod, a Lihuk member, said they plan to hold a protest march and a rally on Sept. 29 from the Pryce Tower building along J.P. Laurel Avenue to the collection office of the DLPC on Ponciano Street. Nice Palaca, a member of Kadamay, said, “President Benigno Aquino III should now show his sincerity when he said that he would improve the condition of the poor like us. Where is that now?” Lolita Aparece of San Juan village said her household’s monthly electric bill rose from between P500 and P700 to P1,300. “My last bill was P1,800,” she added. Duhaylungsod said she was billed P2,980 for her August electric usage, from the previous average of P1,800. Ross Luga, assistant vice president for communications of the DLPC, said the increased billing was 80 centavos on the average, “but that is for all categories, industrial, commercial and households.” “For households, they were billed only 33 centavos,” he said. Average distribution charge before the increase was P1.08 per kilowatt-hour, which was hiked to the government-approved P1.16, or a difference of 80 centavos. He said the increase in collection underwent a series of consultation and public hearings undertaken by the government’s Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). The DLPC also made a presentation with the Davao City Council, the legislative branch of the city government, on Feb. 16 and Aug. 3. The ERC has approved the petition of electric distributors and electric cooperatives for power-rate hike to offset the interim or temporary use of generator sets and power plants run by diesel during the El Niño dry spell, whose scorching heat dried up natural reservoirs and lakes that were the source of the Mindanao power grid. These generator sets and power plants, including the DLPC’s Bajada power plant, run on diesel, which also increased its rate. DLPC’s use of the Bajada standby power plant cautioned the effect of the curtailment of electricity supply by reducing the number of brownouts to only one hour and to as long as two hours. The rest of Mindanao is reeling from debilitating brownouts that last as long as 10 hours to 12 hours daily.