By Annabelle L. Ricalde and Michael Andrew W. Yu
Friday, March 30, 2012
CAGAYAN DE ORO -- Government officials from Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro back the proposed giving of emergency powers to President Aquino III to address the worsening power shortage in Mindanao.
Misamis Oriental Representative Yevgeny Emano (2nd district) said since the impact of the problem is already felt by the people in Mindanao, an immediate remedy should also be needed if the long-term solution is not yet available.
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“If this cannot be addressed the soonest, our economy would surely be affected because who among the investors would want to put in their businesses in Mindanao, especially in Misamis Oriental, if there is not enough supply of power?” Emano said in a radio interview.
Cagayan de Oro Representative Benjamin Benaldo (1st district) also agreed on the idea of giving Aquino emergency powers.
Benaldo said he is worried that the power shortage might lead to the decline of economic activity and would result in losses of jobs and livelihood.
At the same time, Benaldo emphasized that the emergency powers extended to the President will be defined within the framework of extreme circumstances and limitations to ensure that there will be no repetition of the mistakes during the time of former President Fidel Ramos that “instead of finding solution, people were made to suffer more.”
Both Emano and Benaldo expressed confidence that the emergency powers, once given to the President, will not be abused since Congress will also be creating an oversight committee to monitor if the guidelines are properly followed.
However, City Councilor Edgar Cabanlas said the emergency powers may only aggravate the problem as what happened during the time of Ramos when the shortage was taken advantage by private power producers in connivance with government officials who came up with difficult “sweetheart contracts” that led to high power rates.
In 1992, the country was plunged into a severe power crisis, which led then President Ramos to seek emergency powers from Congress to deal with the problem.
Forty independent power producers signed contracts with the take or pay provisions with the government, which only spawned an oversupply of power plants and forced consumers to shoulder energy costs that they did not use.
“I don’t agree with the emergency power because I believe this is only an artificial shortage and in the end, it would still be the consumers who will suffer,” Cabanlas told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
According to him, the government should rehabilitate and expand the Agus hydropower plants and develop other renewable energy as long-term solution.
Earlier, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV filed a bill that seeks to grant emergency powers to Aquino in light of the energy crisis in Mindanao.
Related to this, Senator Francis Escudero stressed that Aquino should be granted standby power in case of extraordinary situations that he can exercise at his own discretion without having to run to Congress every now and then and wait for its imprimatur.
“This power crisis in Mindanao is one of those extraordinary circumstances that call for extraordinary power,” Escudero said.
He said the standby power should only be temporary meant to provide immediate remedies in cases of national emergencies.
Escudero believed that the emergency powers can address the valid issue on pricing as the President can impose a price cap in case of market failure, fears of monopoly and skyrocketing power prices that grip the residents of Mindanao.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Government of Misamis Oriental also expressed its support to Trillanes’s bill.
In a statement, Governor Oscar S. Moreno said he expressed genuine support to the move to address the critical power situation that affects Mindanao.
“I welcome the Senate Bill with the hope that our representatives from Mindanao will contribute towards attaining the same objective. I, however, hope that our energy experts would take a more potent role in ensuring judiciousness,” Moreno said.
Under Senate Bill 3167, or the so-called the Electric Power Crisis Act of 2012, Trillanes proposes to allow the President to enter into negotiated contracts for the construction, repair, rehabilitation, improvement or maintenance of power plants, projects and facilities, subject to some safeguard provisions.
“Out of abundance of caution, however, this measure expressly prohibits the government from granting sovereign guarantee for the payment of obligations incurred by the independent power producers (IPPs),” Trillanes said in a television news article.
Reportedly, the emergency powers will only take for one year.
However, Aquino said he did not need emergency powers “so far” to deal with the crisis in Mindanao.
“At this time, I am not sure whether emergency powers are what are needed,” Aquino said. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on March 31, 2012.
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