by Myrna Velasco May 30, 2016
(updated)
The energy sector is fervently
wishing that incoming Energy Secretary Alfredo Cusi will be fast on the
learning curve given the pressing concerns and issues yet to be addressed in
various segments of the industry.
Many industry players have “lame
expectations” of an appointment with barely zero energy background, although
the others would still want to give Cusi the benefit of the doubt.
Overall though, the entire industry
is yearning for an energy secretary who is practically “returning from
war” – one who is enthusiastic and dedicated in helping solve the woes of
the sector; not much like the disappointing ones that the sector had to deal
and live with in recent years.
When asked by reporters, Alsons
Consolidated Resources, Inc. chairman Tomas I. Alcantara, who is open on his
support to the Duterte presidency, has this unsolicited advice to the incoming
energy chief: “he has to do a lot of reading, a lot of studies.”
Alcantara reckoned that given the
stature of the energy sector as a very critical component and backbone of the
Philippine economy, “he (Cusi) has to move fast.”
The Alcantara group chair, who also
served government previously via the Department of Trade and Industry, divulged
that he had actually talked with Cusi when he congratulated him for being
designated in the Department of Energy (DOE) portfolio and relayed that he has
sounded off the same piece of advice to him.
Prior to this appointment, Cusi was
general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) under the
Arroyo administration. In that stint, he was not able to log a sterling
performance because that was the period when the country’s aviation sector was
downgraded to category 2. Most of Cusi’s professional experience had been in
the transport sector.
