Boracay’s power problem isn’t new

As I write this column a week ahead of deadline, the lights are back at Boracay. Government has taken over management of the offending Aklan Electric Cooperative. We are told the senior officers of the coop had been fired. But it is a mistake to believe that the problem had been solved.

I can’t understand why some people are acting as if the power problem of Boracay is something new. That Aklan Electric Cooperative had long been a headache of the tourism entrepreneurs in Boracay. Even before Napocor finally cut off the coop for non payment of account, the service it had given our prime tourist destination had been despicable.

I know. I had been receiving regular complaints from Boracay businessmen about the coop for years now. I even interceded for them more than once by bringing up their problem to then Energy Secretary Mario Tiaoqui. To his credit Tiaoqui personally visited Boracay and ordered the coop to improve its service to the island. The improvement never happened.

This is why many of the tourist establishments in Boracay have their own generators. That’s messy and expensive but they don’t have a choice. The coop refuses to surrender their right to serve the island but is unable to give the island the service it deserves.

Tourism Secretary Dick Gordon should arrange to have a power barge supply the power needs of Boracay, at least for the meantime that the cooperative is unable to assure quality service. Just because the NEA took over the Aklan coop does not mean the service will improve overnight to world class standards needed in a world class resort area. Or maybe, they could reposition Boracay’s lack of electricity as something that’s by design – to preserve its unspoiled charm.

Firing the officers of that coop is too easy. The NEA should discipline them for utter incompetence, if not for graft and corruption. I am almost sure funny things have been happening there to explain why it had been so inefficient to the point of being unable to pay its bills with Napocor.

In the meantime, I am staying away from the island this summer vacation. I was entertaining the thought of spending some time there. But if I am going to have to live with a power blackout, I might just as well stay home. Chances are equally high that a school of jellyfish may swim towards the Sual power plant again and we all know what happens next.

Tax time

Since I was a kid, I always associated Holy Week with the preparation of taxes. I used to watch my Dad sweat it out during this time of the year, working on his taxes as his special kind of penitensya.

This year, the tax collector will join the taxpayers in sweating it out. BIR Commissioner Rene Bañez told us last week that because of the economic situation, collecting taxes this April isn’t going to be easy. They met their targets for January and February which probably signals a business turnaround has started. But collecting taxes due on income earned by ordinary taxpayers last year is something else.

I can easily see the problem of the BIR. I imagine that his big taxpayers unit will not be as busy this year. With the manufacturing and property sectors taking a big hit last year, many of the usual big taxpayers are likely to report significantly lower incomes, if not outright losses.

The Agriculture sector had been given the credit of driving the economy last year. Problem is, the agri sector is basically part of the underground economy that do not pay taxes. Then we have all the smuggling of rice and other agricultural products going on, which is bad news not just to the BIR but to the Customs bureau as well.

This is why I found it hilarious that some desk-bound economists reportedly tried to convince the Finance department to increase the revenue targets significantly on the basis of some economic model they are toying around. Commissioner Bañez reportedly offered to vacate his post so that the economists can run the bureau and see how ridiculous their economic model is in the real world.

In any case, the BIR chief is a little more confident about the performance of the bureau, a year after he reorganized and reassigned officials. It was good to see a BIR chief who refuses to be intimidated by the mafia of officials who ruled over the juciest district offices. It helps, of course, that the President is not misusing the agency the way past presidents and their relatives and cronies did.

I still think our tax laws should be made friendlier to fixed income earners like us. A retiree who is living on interest income from his next egg also wrote me to complain about the 20-percent withholding tax on interest income. Given how the T-bill rates have gone down to the five-percent level, you can imagine how little could be earned on interest these days. And if that’s your only source of income, you are in trouble.

In the meantime, Mr. Bañez says he will maximize the use of information technology to make sure taxpayers pay the right taxes. He is taking the cue from the mall operators who have placed on line, all the cash registers of establishments in their mall. This assures them of their percentage income over the gross sales of the establishments. BIR’s computer system will be put to the acid test starting this year.

Washington Post’s Style Invitational

Just got this from reader Fe dela Cruz.

Each year the Washington Post’s Style Invitational asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter and supply a new definition. Here are some of the 2001 winners:

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

Glibido: All talk and no action.

Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

And, the pick of the literature:

Ignoranus: A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.

Happy Easter to you all!

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected])