By | Mar. 01, 2014 at 12:01am
President Benigno Aquino III on his recent trip to Typhoon Pablo-devastated Cateel, Province of Davao Oriental, called up and scolded Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, Budget Secretary Butch Abad and National Electrification Administrator Edith Bueno for their failure to fully restore electricity to Cateel. Alas, while denying that the department had any pending request from NEA, the DBM a day or two later approved the release of the requested funds. NEA and the local electric cooperative had been waiting for the funds for more than a year. It took a visit by Mr. Aquino to make things happen.
But oftentimes a visit is not enough. Or it is physically impossible for a president to visit every single place that has an unattended-to problem. Many communities affected by Typhoon Yolanda still have no electricity - fallen electric posts and cables lying on the ground are testimony to this. The Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative and its member-consumers had to wait more than a year and a presidential visit before DBM released the requested funds - will electric consumers in Yolanda-ravaged provinces across the Visayas have to wait equally long?
Unemployment and poverty remain high even without the help of natural disasters. Electric power spurs economic development and makes our neighborhoods safer. We cannot afford to ignore investments in rural infrastructure, including restoring electricity, which would help generate badly needed jobs and other sources of livelihood. Unfortunately, aside from a presidential scolding, it usually takes a massive blackout like the one that occurred in Mindanao February 27 or a rate increase in Metro Manila before the political powers and opinion makers take any notice of the state of electric power.
Marit Stinus-Cabugon
No comments:
Post a Comment