‘Napocor has no contract with power firm’

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) has no existing contract with CE Casecnan Water and Energy Co. for the supply of energy from the Casecnan multipurpose project, Sen. Joker Arroyo revealed yesterday.

Arroyo, chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means, made the revelation as his panel resumes this afternoon its investigation into the controversial project.

He said that while there is a contract between CE Casecnan and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), there is none between the former and Napocor.

"They should explain during the hearing how the go-vernment guaranteed to pay Casecnan P2 billion a year for 20 years for 185 megawatts of electricity without any contract," Arroyo said.

Secretary Dante Canlas of the National Economic and Development Authority will join at this afternoon’s hearing returning resource persons, Administrator Jesus Emmanuel Paras of the NIA, Napocor president Roland Quilala, his predecessor Guido Delgado and David Baldwin, president of CAL Energy International, leading member of the Casecnan consortium.

On the first day of hearing, Arroyo had charged that "all conceivable kinds of anomalies" could be found in the Casecnan contract.

He said the inability of Casecnan to produce the amount of power to be fully paid by the government is not as reprehensible as its inability to provide water for irrigation.

"We don’t need the power because there is an oversupply, but farmers need the water!" he said.

Under the contract, NIA is obliged to pay Casecnan P3 per cubic meter for 800 million cubic meters of water a year, or P2.4 billion a year, whether the water is delivered or not.

In a related development, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said it does not make sense for the government to undertake a P2-billion project that would enable farmers to earn an incremental income of only P1 billion a year.

Osmeña said that the rate being charged by Casecnan of P3 per cubic meter is much higher than the 50 centavos per cubic meter being charged by Maynilad and Manila Water for raw water.

He refuted the claim of former President Fidel Ramos that there is a demolition job against him (Ramos) in the Senate investigation of the purchased power adjustment (PPA) and the contracts with independent power producers (IPPs).

Ramos named Senators John Osmeña and Edgardo Angara as among those reportedly bent on discrediting him. Ramos said he was willing to attend the Senate investigation so he could explain his side. He said he acted when there was a power crisis and the questioned contracts helped end the crisis.

"I am willing to face Mr. Ramos and ask him why he has agreed to this lowest kind of project — for the Casecnan is a run-of-the-river type, it is totally dependent on the weather. If there is no rain, there is no water; if there is no water, there is no power," Osmeña countered.

Meanwhile, Angara dared Ramos yesterday to point out the inaccuracies in his article on the PPA "instead of claiming that there is a demolition job against him."

He insisted that his report on the PPA contained only facts.

He said that the report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism was "more devastating than his report," yet Ramos did not make much out of the PCIJ report.

In a related development, Sen. Robert Barbers dared the detractors of Ramos to present sufficient evidence to prove their allegations that the Ramos administration entered into anomalous contracts with IPPs, which resulted in the PPA.

"If the attackers of the former president have evidence, it should be presented in the proper forum so that the former president can answer the allegations against him," Barbers said, noting that Ramos had agreed to appear before any Senate investigation.