Emergency powers should last only six months

Business World Online
Posted on September 17, 2014 10:56:00 PM

SENATOR Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Wednesday expressed support for a move that will grant President Benigno S. C. Aquino III emergency powers to prevent an energy crisis but noted it should only last for six months.

“I am in favor of granting emergency powers to President Aquino, and we have to give him the presumption of good faith,” Ms. Santiago told reporters in a press briefing.

“Generally there is no emergency for one year. We give him the power, but only for six months or so, one year is too long of emergency powers of this nature,” she added.

The senator said she believes the President will not abuse his power.

“We cannot build any more power plants because we just don’t have the time and it costs too much. We need to give him these powers so that he can make sure that the outages will not follow the schedule drawn up by the experts,” she noted.

In a letter dated Sept. 12 addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives, Mr. Aquino sought for an immediate enactment of a joint resolution that will authorize him to establish additional generating capacity.

The President said the move was in accordance with Section 71 of Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001.

Ms. Santiago emphasized that the increase in electricity rates is “the price we have to pay for the lack of foresight of people in Congress.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Santiago, Senate committee on foreign relations chairperson, presided over a hearing on Wednesday that resulted in the confirmation of six ambassadors, 12 chiefs of mission, 13 career ministers, and 17 foreign service officers from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Before the start of the hearing, Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo C. Fariñas gave Ms. Santiago a bouquet of flowers as a “peace offering” after the senator walked out of the committee’s previous hearing last week.

“I humbly believe that there’s no need for apology on either side. Instead, as usual, I hold out the hand of friendship,” Ms. Santiago said.

On Sept. 10, the senator walked out of a Commission on Appointments hearing after Mr. Fariñas, the only member in that hearing, questioned the validity of the proceeding without a quorum.

Ms. Santiago also expressed hope that she would soon recover from her lung cancer.

“With the new ‘wonder pill’, I hope to attain full recovery by the end of this year,” she said.

“Some people doubt that I have cancer at all. I wish it was a figment of my imagination. You think I would report to office like this [with bandages]? A person suffering from lung cancer is prone to bleeding. I used to have high pain tolerance, that’s why I’m in politics,” the senator said. source