‘Noy powers to include Malampaya Fund’

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino will be authorized to tap about P4 billion to P10 billion from the Malampaya Fund once Congress gives him special emergency powers to prevent an impending energy crisis next year, Senate President Franklin Drilon said yesterday.

Drilon said the funds would be used to either lease or purchase generation sets from available suppliers.

“My estimate, if I am not mistaken, and I am just relying on my memory – anywhere from P4 billion to P10 billion depending on megawatts or whether this will cover rental or purchases,” Drilon told radio dzBB.

“There are various amounts involved depending on the situation, and (the funds) will come from the Malampaya funds,” he added.

Congress’ plan to grant special powers to the President came less than a year after the Supreme Court ruled as unconstitutional the use of the Priority Development and Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Malampaya Fund for purposes other than energy-related projects.

Voting 14-0 in November last year, the Supreme Court nullified “all legal provisions of past and present Congressional pork barrel laws, such as the previous PDAF and Countrywide Development Fund (CDF) articles and the various Congressional Insertions, which authorize/d legislators-whether individually or collectively organized into committees – to intervene, assume or participate in any of the various post-enactment stages of the budget execution.”

The Supreme Court also ruled as unconstitutional the provisions of the laws allowing the President to use the Malampaya Fund for purposes other than energy-related projects as well as the provision which allows the President’s Social Fund to be used for priority infrastructure development projects.

At the height of the pork barrel controversy, Sen. Ralph Recto asked the administration to give a full audit of how the government spent the proceeds from the Malampaya operations – amounting to about P170-billion over the years.

Recto estimated that there should be about P130 billion left out of the proceeds from the royalties from the natural gas operations off Palawan since P25 billion was spent during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term and about P 15 billion was tapped by the current Aquino administration by 2013.