Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
The Power Sector Assets
and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) and Department of Finance (DOF)
are both lobbying for the use of the P198 billion Malampaya fund to retire the
power sector’s stranded liabilities, but the Senate is extremely disappointed
over the fact that they have not even done serious task to reconcile their
figures before seeking Congressional approval on such proposal.
Senate Committee on
Energy Chairman Sherwin T. Gatchalian noticed that the figures presented by the
DOF, during his interpellation on the agency’s 2018 budget, differed from the
numbers provided by PSALM.
As he reproached both
PSALM and the finance department on their ‘contradicting figures’, he also raised
doubts how can the remaining PSALM liabilities be settled effectively if
competence is lacking even at the level of calculation or book entry on the
claimed magnitude of stranded contract costs and stranded debts.
Gatchalian cited that
DOF’s figures placed “PSALM’s total outstanding liabilities at 722.5 billion,
out of which P275 billion consist of stranded contract costs and stranded
debts.”
Conversely, he noted
PSALM’s calculation of “total outstanding obligation at P491 billion, of which
P223 billion comprised of its stranded contract costs and stranded debts.”
Exasperated by that
dissembling of figures, Gatchalian stressed that “PSALM’s job is to liquidate
the debts (of the National Power Corporation) and to liquidate this debt, the
first step is to know how much they owe. But they don’t even know the exact
amount, so how can they pay it?”
Beyond concerns of lax
‘record keeping’, the lawmaker also cautioned officials of the Executive
Department “to address ambiguities surrounding the utilization of the P198
billion Malampaya fund to ensure that the remaining funds will be spent in a
transparent manner in accordance with the law.”
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