Monday, 26 March, 2012 Written by Joyce Pangco Panares
PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III admitted Sunday that the government neglected to address the power shortage in Mindanao and appealed to the people to be patient amid the rolling blackouts in the region that last up to 15 hours daily in some areas.
“I have to admit, we have neglected the power problem in Mindanao,” Mr. Aquino said in a speech Sunday afternoon during the birthday party of Imus Rep. Erineo Maliksi.
He said it would take time before measures could be put in place, noting that the P2.6-billion rehabilitation of the Agus VI hydroelectric power plant would take up to 30 months.
“I did not promise that in two days we will already have solved the problem,” he said. “It is not like we are changing light bulbs here.”
Mr. Aquino said the Agus VI transformer, built in 1953, was good for only 30 years or until 1983, and that the past presidents, including his mother, the late Corazon Aquino, never addressed the problem.
“A thought just crossed my mind. Thirty years ago I was just fresh out of college. They [the past administrations] should have fixed this problem, so I do not have to deal with it now,” he said.
The two proposed coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 300 megawatts would take two years to build. “We have to clear the land and construct the power plant,” Mr. Aquino said.
“It’s not like you can just go to Home Depot and buy a building to house the power plants.”
The most immediate measure, Mr. Aquino said, was to build power barges, but the government was studying the proper rate mix to come up with an acceptable price for the electricity generated.
The rate charged for the power from hydroelectric plants is P3 a kilowatt hour. Electricity from the power barges would cost P14 a kilowatt hour.
Earlier, Energy Secretary Rene Almendras said the power shortage in Mindanao would last until 2013.
The opposition lawmakers on Monday rejected a proposal by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to grant the President emergency powers to deal with the power crisis.
“There is no necessity. He has all the powers to look into and provide a solution to the problem of Mindanao,” said Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano, a former chairman of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay agreed, saying emergency powers would open the door to corruption.
Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones said the President should not seek emergency powers to deal with a situation that his government aggravated.
“Our power problem is not an emergency,” Palmones said.
“It became a calamity because of the Energy Department’s inaction.”
On Friday, the Mindanao Business Council, the umbrella organization of all business groups on the island, urged President Aquino to immediately call an energy summit.
Ramon Floresta, an MBC member and president of the Kidapawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the business community also rejected the privatization of the power plants there.
“The Mindanao Business Council and the Regional Development Councils want the President himself to convene and host the Energy Summit because drastic actions are already needed,” Floresta told the Manila Standard.
“We have been talking to various energy agencies and no one could assure us that something is being done to remedy the power crisis. We need drastic actions and immediate intervention from the President himself.”
Floresta, also co-chairman of the Regional Development Council, said the business community in Mindanao opposed a plan by the Lopez group to buy the Agus hydrothermal plant in Lanao because they raised power rates by 70 percent after acquiring the Mt. Apo geothermal plant.
“Our businesses here in Mindanao are being killed. The small establishments have already closed shop,” Loresta said.
“As if being powerless is not enough, we now contend with paying more than P8 per kilowatt hour after the Lopezes increased the rates by 70 percent. The increase in the rates is aggravated by eight-hour daily blackouts.”
Floresta said his Cavendish banana export business was suffering because his 250-hectare plantation required irrigation by four 150-horsepower pumping stations.
His processing plants for the wooden pallets that were needed to ship the bananas were also adversely affected by the blackouts.
Floresta said the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the mother organization of the Mindanao Business Council, supported their call for an energy summit.
“We want the President to host the energy summit and we want the Lopezes, the Ayalas, the Aboitizes and the Sys, or what we call here the Big 4, to be present in the summit so they would hear and listen to our woes,” he said.
Floresta said that when they sought a dialogue with Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, he simply sent an undersecretary who could not make any commitments.
“The Energy officials sent by Secretary Almendras could not offer any solutions. In fact, their answers were off-tangent. So we now want the President to face us and tell us if what is being done about this power crisis,” Floresta said.
He said businessmen were getting angrier every day because the solution that energy officials were always proposing was to buy power barges.
“Power barges are hard to maintain because they are very expensive. They run on diesel fuel. Why are we being pushed into this kind of situation? We want the President to take drastic actions now and help us.” With Christine F. Herrera and Maricel Cruz
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/March/27)
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