By | Jan. 21, 2014 at 12:01am
CONGRESSMEN on Monday again demanded that Energy Regulatory Commission Chairwoman Zenaida Ducut resign while militant groups called for a “blackout protest” after the Supreme Court hears this afternoon arguments on the proposed rate increase of the Manila Electric Company.
Activist groups urged the public to protest Meralco’s rate increase by shutting off their electricity at 7 p.m. tonight, a few hours after the Supreme Court hears arguments for and against the biggest electricity rate hike ever imposed by Meralco.
Manila Electric Company’s Sampaloc office to slam
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But Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez said Ducut should also resign for gross neglect of duty and incompetence.
“She failed to protect the interest of the power consumers. Thus, while the ERC is an independent commission, Malacanang should take concrete action to remove Ducut from her post,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez also said Ducut should also reply to the complaints filed against her with the Ombudsman in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.
“It boggles the mind how a person implicated in the Napoles pork barrel scam can be running a regulatory body tasked to protect consumers,” the congressman said.
Ducut was a congressional representative of Pampanga’s second district from 1995 to 2004. She was appointed ERC chairwoman in 2008 by then President Gloria Arroyo, who now represents the district.
Gabriela party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan also blasted Ducut for “fooling the Filipino people” when she latter claimed the ERC conducted public consultations on the proposed rate hikes.
Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, for his part, welcomed President Aquino’s statement against Meralco’s power rate hike, although it was “late.”
“We are pleased that the President now sees eye to eye with us on this issue of power players passing the consequences of their bad decisions to the consumers,” Bello said.
“We earnestly hope that the President’s belated statement will translate into fast, judicious and forceful actions to protect the power consumers and punish those responsible for this burdensome power rate hike,” Bello added.
The SC will hold oral arguments on the petitions assailing the legality of the P4.15 Meralco rate hike.
Under the guidelines, lawyers for the petitioners—militant groups led by Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares and consumer groups led by National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms (Nasecore)—will be the first to argue their case against the rate hike.
The petitioners will be allowed to present their arguments for 30 minutes based on the eight-point guidelines issued by the high court last week.
After which, the counsels for petitioners would be subject to intense questioning by the SC justices.
Retired SC justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura will then be given 40 minutes to present its defense of the record-high rate hike.
The concerned government agencies—the Department of Energy and Energy Regulatory Commission, through the Office of the Solicitor General, will then have its turn to face the high tribunal to explain its approval of the rate hike. They will have the floor for 30 minutes.
Intervenors—a group of militants led by Anakpawis party-list and former Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco—will have their turn for 30 minutes to be followed by additional respondents, including the Philippine Electricity Market Corp., who will have 40 minutes.
But while the SC holds its hearing, militant groups are also expected to gather on Padre Faura Street in Manila to protest the rate hike, ahead of the “blackout protest” scheduled for 7 p.m.
Anakbayan chairman Vencer Crisostomo urged consumers to to turn off their lights at 7 p.m. and join the protest rallies in front of the Supreme Court in Manila and in front of Meralco offices.
“We are calling for a blackout protest starting 7 p.m. Let us turn off our lights against Meralcoís bullying and abuse,” Crisostomo said.
“They enjoy profits while we are mired in hardship [and] not content with these record high profit rates, they have colluded with the government to manipulate prices to further squeeze consumers dry. This must be stopped,” Crisostomo said.
Another group, Migrante International, a global alliance of overseas Filipinos workers, has said OFWs and their families fully support the call for a blackout protest.
“OFWs support calls to stop the power rate hike because the unending spate of rate increases are taking a heavy toll on them and their families, especially in light of the dwindling dollar, the continuous onslaught of calamities, and other state exactions, such as the Philhealth premium increase and the proposal to make SSS and Pag-Ibig contributions mandatory for OFWs,” said Garry Martinez, Migrante International chairman. With Ronald O. Reyes and Rey E. Requejo source
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