Senate OK’s P6.39-B additional Napocor budget

Business World Online
Posted on December 13, 2011 11:31:40 PM
BY ANTONIO SIEGFRID O. ALEGADO, Reporter

THE SENATE yesterday approved on third and final reading a joint resolution seeking to add P6.39 billion to the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) budget this year. This was seen as essential to allowing the state-owned firm to continue servicing off-grid areas and pay off debts.
In a unanimous vote, senators approved Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 13 paving way for President Benigno S. C. Aquino III’s signing of the measure before Congress breaks for the holidays on Friday.
“Additional budget of P6.39 billion is necessary to cover NPC’s (Napocor) requirements for fuel, purchasing power, rental of generating sets, new power provider subsidy, debt service and capital expenditures,” finance committee chairman Senator Franklin M. Drilon said in a statement.
Mr. Drilon, who sponsored the joint resolution, stressed that the additional budget was essential to finance the costs of power generation for small power utilization group areas.
“It is necessary for the Senate and the House of Representatives to increase NPC’s operating budget for fiscal year 2011 from P13.97 billion,” he said.
The Senate last week adopted a counterpart resolution (House Joint Resolution 27), which was approved at the lower chamber on Dec. 6, to expedite the passage of the measure. If the Senate adopts a measure from the House of Representatives, the two chambers need not convene a bicameral conference to harmonize differences in its respective versions.
Mr. Aquino has certified the measure as urgent and urged its immediate enactment last Thursday.
The additional funds will be sourced from a universal charge for missionary electrification increase, a state subsidy for a maturing short-term loan and partial reimbursements of tax advances from the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp., the joint resolution said.
Napocor is also mandated to submit to the Department of Budget and Management, the House committee on appropriations and the Senate finance committee a report on the utilization and actual funding sources of both the state power company’s original and supplemental budget for the year, it added.
“In no case shall the supplemental budget or any savings be used for the payment of salaries, advances of representation and transportation expenses or other personal allowances,” Mr. Drilon said.
Napocor had wanted a P30.74-billion 2011 budget, which ended up being trimmed to P7.575 billion. The joint resolution states that some P7.07 billion of approved outlay had already been used up in the nine months to September.
Napocor President Foilan A. Tampinco last week said that the state power company needs the additional budget to pay for its obligations like fuel and debt servicing.