Senator presses DOE to enforce EVOSS law

By Butch Fernandez May 28, 2020
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/05/28/senator-presses-doe-to-enforce-evoss-law/

GOVERNMENT regulators were pressed Wednesday to speed up the process of enforcing an awaited remedial legislation mandating government to provide an online process for issuing permits to power providers that President Duterte had already signed into law way back last March 8, 2019.

Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian prodded the Department of Energy (DOE) to promptly implement the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS) Law that Congress earlier passed to speed up the permitting process of power generation, transmission, and distribution in the Philippines under an enabling law will remain unimpeded as the country remains in quarantine.

Stressing the importance of enforcing the new law, the senator suggested the DOE can proceed to set EVOSS in motion even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, pointing out that it is “simply an online process of completing requirements of energy-related projects.”

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate energy committee, pointed out that the EVOSS will operate as “a virtual storage of integrated shared services of all government offices, including government -owned and -controlled corporations [GOCCs] and local government units [LGUs] involved in the process of power generation, transmission or distribution.”

In a news statement, the senator prodded all agencies involved to start the “contactless processes and approvals through an online system” so that the people will not be compelled to be physically present in all agencies for the necessary permits they need.

He noted the timely passage of the new law in the midst of the raging contagion, which requires “social distancing” to prevent spreading the deadly virus.

“Sa panahon ngayon na ang lahat ay dapat may social distancing, malaki ang maitutulong ng EVOSS Law upang tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang pag proseso ng mga energy-related permits dahil ang lahat ng ito ay maaaring i-proseso online. EVOSS is the perfect tool for new normal. I will make sure that this law will be implemented,” added Gatchalian.

The senator said that the spirit of the EVOSS law “is really to get rid of the red tape in the energy sector by promoting a faster, practical, and simplified process to ensure the quality, reliability and security of energy and expedite the process of supply to meet the country’s demand in a timely manner even during extraordinary times such as pandemics.”