Energy Bills Frozen

Measures Stuck In House Panel
By BEN ROSARIO
March 31, 2012, 4:27am


Over 40 bills and resolutions that address the power crisis and the runaway prices of fuel and electricity have been gathering dust in the House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy, but there appears to be no urgency to act on them, despite the looming power crisis in Mindanao.


Records in the House show that the energy committee has not conducted hearings on several bills, some of which were filed a few days after the 15th Congress opened in July 2010.


The committee is headed by Batanes Rep. Henedina Abad, wife of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.


Congressman Abad’s committee holds in its hands the fate of at least 20 bills and another 20 proposed resolutions seeking to address the energy crisis.


Among the measures are proposals seeking to amend or repeal Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 and Republic Act 8479 or the oil industry deregulation law.


Bills seeking to cut power rates by utilizing government share in the discovery of indigenous energy sources and the return of the oil price stabilization fund have also been idled.


Also pending are proposals for the mandatory inspection of gasoline station pumps to prevent owners from shortchanging motorists.


Resolutions asking the Department of Energy to draw up a plans to avert the Mindanao power shortage were filed way back in 2010.


San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito confirmed that the committee has not tackled the bills that would have averted the oil and energy crises or cushioned their impact on the public.


"Actually, I am myself surprised why the Committee on Energy has not acted on the impending power crisis by at least conducting hearings," Ejercito said.


Ejercito wrote House Bill 3267 which proposes amendments to RA 8479 that would address supposed abuses committed by oil companies. The proposal was filed on September 17, 2010, three months after the 15th Congress opened.


Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco, a partymate of Ejercito in the Partido ng Masang Pilipino, said his proposal, HB 3190, is among the bills that the House panel has been sitting on.


HB 3190 proposes the removal of allowable system losses that private utility companies recover from consumers by adding the amount to their bills.


Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino said the problem could be traced to the fact that the House committee "does not want to tangle with the executive on policy matters."


"This is the problem when a committee chairperson has close personal and political ties with the Palace – it loses its independence," Casino said, adding, "This was true of the previous chairperson as well."


Casino was referring to AGAP Partylist Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, son of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.


Casino acknowledged that the young Arroyo, who was House energy committee chairman during the 14th Congress, had acted on many pending measures by calling for hearings although the legislative accomplishment remained wanting.


"If the energy committee were to take its role as a check and balance seriously, it cannot but be adversarial to the administration and would have raised hell a long time ago and demanded swifter and more decisive actions from the Palace," he said.


Casino said Abad has been "defaulting on the opportunity to radically change the policies of privatization and deregulation," two issues that led to "chronic shortages and high prices of power."


Representative Abad is a senior leader of the Liberal Party, the party of President Benigno S. Aquino III.


Liberal Party member and Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo shared the misgivings of Ejercito and Casino but assured the Manila Bulletin he would write his partymate to inquire about the pending bills.


Castelo filed House Bill 5295 that sought the repeal of the oil deregulation law. The proposal was sent to the energy committee in September 2011.