Noy prods Congress to give him emergency powers

BALI, Indonesia – President Aquino has prodded Congress to immediately grant him emergency powers to address the looming power crisis, saying lawmakers will bear the brunt of the blame if blackouts hit Luzon in summer 2015.

The President renewed his call to Congress on Friday as members of the Senate and House of Representatives continue to deliberate on the proposed joint resolution granting him emergency powers under Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

The EPIRA bars the government from engaging in power generation, and lawmakers are skeptical of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla’s projections on the extent of the power shortage.

But Aquino said Petilla committed in their last meeting that he would exert all efforts to secure congressional approval of the resolution.

“Am I confident it (joint resolution) will pass? I think so. At the end of the day, if brownouts will come next year and we don’t have power, who among the lawmakers will want to be remembered as not approving (the resolution)?” Aquino told reporters here.

“If you’re going to pass it, pass it as soon as possible because it’s better if we have more time to address this issue,” the President added.

Petilla has been insisting that the government enter into negotiated contracts to lease diesel-run power barges that is expected to cost up to P12 billion in taxpayers’ money.

Aquino said the government needs at least six months to negotiate for the lease, transport and installation of power barges from abroad. The installation would also require civil works, such as installation of pipes and fuel tanks.

He noted that the power situation in the country was complicated and cannot be completely solved by simply leasing power barges, adding the youngest power plant in Luzon is about 14 years old. He also called for other measures to mitigate the expected power shortage such as the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) and shifting the peak hours of power use of commercial establishments and industries.

Lawmakers, however, pointed out there is still no clear and convincing data from Petilla that there would indeed be a power crisis in Luzon next summer and that his projections vary wildly from 300 megawatts to 1,200 MW.

They also questioned Petilla’s insistence on leasing power barges that they said was “grossly expensive” as they would be used only a few hours a day during the peak summer months and yet the lease contracts would span up to two years.

Lawmakers noted that the ILP, where the government will compensate large commercial and industrial establishments for temporarily disconnecting from the grid and use their own embedded power during peak hours, would cost only P200 million at most.

Earlier, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said based on a report submitted to the House committee on energy by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, there would be sufficient power supply and even a “system gross reserve” for the whole of 2015.

He said the report shows that available power for Luzon for next year would range from 8,839 MW in January to 10,946 MW in December.

Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate also asked why the committee, chaired by Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, has been holding meetings of his technical working group when it is yet to conduct a single public hearing on the joint resolution.

They scored Umali, who belongs to the administration’s Liberal Party, for giving the impression that the resolution would be approved with Petilla’s recommendation to lease expensive power barges intact.

“We oppose emergency powers for President Aquino precisely because not only has Secretary Petilla failed to prove the claimed lack of supply, but also because this short-sighted band aid solution will increase the cost of electricity and will not assure stable energy supply. We need long-term solutions, not short-term magic tricks,” they added. – With Aurea Calica, Marvin Sy