House divided on move to grant Aquino emergency powers for power shortage

Manila Bulletin
July 23, 2014

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) proposal to grant emergency powers to President Aquino to address the looming power crisis appeared to have divided the House of Representatives yesterday.

Lawmakers crossed party lines in either rejecting or supporting the possible granting of emergency powers to the Chief Executive to address the power problem after Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla recommended to President Aquino the declaration of an emergency situation on the country’s power supply.

500 MW POWER SHORTAGE

The DOE anticipates a supply shortage of around 500 megawatts in the Luzon and Visayas grids during the hot months of April and May before new electricity-generation plants come on stream in the second half of next year, Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said yesterday.

Petilla has asked President Aquino to invoke a provision in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) that allows the government to quickly bring in additional power-generation capacity, side-stepping some requirements such as public bidding.

The EPIRA leaves to the private sector the primary responsibility of building power plants, and only allows the government to step in if the Philippine President declares “an imminent shortage of (electricity) supply” and the Senate and the House of Representatives concur via a joint resolution.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the “overdue proposal of Petilla will be backed by the Lower Chamber once they get the green light from the President. He said President Aquino should directly ask Congress if he wants emergency powers.

“Petilla’s statement is overdue. Everybody has said it before he did. Yes, we will support if requested by the President. He should also specify what kind of emergency powers,” he said.

LIMITED POWER

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, who authored House Bill 3743 which grants President Aquino one-year emergency powers to construct new government-owned power plants and suspend the imposition of value-added tax (VAT) on electricity, expressed full support to Petilla’s proposal to address the looming power crisis.

“The fear of several quarters that it might be abused is totally unfounded. The emergency powers will be limited to addressing the acute power supply shortfall only. I hope Congress will prioritize my HB 3743 empowering the President to construct power plants,” he said.

1-BAP party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello, former justice secretary, agreed with Evardone, saying that “the energy problem has reached a crisis level and has to be addressed with emergency measures.”

Reps. Rodolfo Albano III (NUP, Isabela) and Sherwin Gatchalian (NPC, Valenzuela City) backed Petilla’s call, saying it would give the government more leeway to ably respond to the shortage.

Gatchalian said the grant of emergency powers to the President will give him the authority to swiftly enter into deals to put up modular power plants from Dubai and the United States within just four to five months.

‘PREMATURE’

Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, a partymate of Aquino in the Liberal Party, described the move as “premature” and still lacking basis.

Umali stressed the need to first determine the seriousness of the allegedly impending power shortage before any legislative action may be taken giving Aquino more power to address the problem.

“We will always be supportive, but we need to satisfy first the requirements of the law, particularly the need to determine whether a crisis exists and the parameters for the grant of emergency powers.”

Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello insisted that “what the administration needs is political will, not emergency powers.”

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon cited Aquino’s alleged “tyrannical tendencies” in calling for a rejection of the proposal.

Ridon said Congress should not entertain suggestions that Aquino be granted emergency powers to deal with the energy shortage problem that has gripped a wide area following the onslaught of typhoon “Glenda”

Quezon City Rep. Winnie Castelo cautioned Congress against immediately giving in to the proposal, saying that Malacañang should prove that there is really a need to grant emergency powers to the President.

“This is something Congress will have to consider with caution. The Executive Department will have to explain and justify to Congress the urgency of the emerging situation. I am sure Secretary Petilla will be called to explain,” he said.

“At the moment, the EPIRA law will have to be revisited. Noting the high cost of electricity and the emerging power crisis, it appears that it has not been responsive,” he pointed out.

Magdalo party-list Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo said, “Before I vote in favor of it, I want Secretary Petilla to tell Congress if DOE under his watch and under PNoy has done absolutely everything possible to avert the looming energy crisis. A lesson in history must be learned during the period 1997 to 1998 when former President Fidel V. Ramos resorted to emergency powers to solve the 10 to 12-hour rotating brown outs,” he said. (Charissa M. Luci, Ben R. Rosario, and Dow Jones) source