Police powers eyed to enforce ILP

MANILA, Philippines - If complications arise from the enforcement of the interruptible load program (ILP), the government may exercise its police powers to set things right, according to Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House committee on energy.

“If our carrot-and-stick approach in the resolution doesn’t work, the government may have to exercise its police powers to enforce the ILP,” Umali said in a telephone interview.

Under the ILP, big establishments will disconnect from the grid during peak hours and use their own generators to free up power for use by households and other small users.

The government will reimburse them for fuel and other costs as well as exempt them from value-added tax on certain expenses.

Large industrial users or malls seeking to participate in the ILP have until Dec. 31 to sign up.

“If there is a need to compel an industrial user to disconnect from the power grid when the demand is high, we can simply do that,” the lawmaker said.

“When that happens, they cannot be compensated for whatever costs they incur,” he said.

Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz proposed amendments to the resolution when it gets to plenary deliberations next week that would impose sanctions on those who sign up for the ILP but fail to meet their commitments.

Militant party-list group Bayan Muna, meanwhile, is preparing to contest the granting of special powers to President Aquino before the Supreme Court (SC).

“The Department of Energy (DOE), until the last hearing of the House energy committee on Tuesday, has not sufficiently established that there is such an imminent shortage,” Rep. Neri Colmenares told a news conference yesterday.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, Congress could grant such special authority to the President only if there is an “imminent” short supply of electricity, he said.

He said that based on DOE’s own data, there would be enough supply during next year’s summer months and there would be a shortfall only in desired reserves in April.

“So where is the imminence of the shortage that would justify the grant of emergency or special powers to the President? This proposed grant is really questionable,” he said.

Colmenares added that they hope the Senate would reject the joint congressional resolution.