More common sense on power

Today is the end of the self-imposed deadline set by Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jericho “Icot” Petilla to restore electricity service in the Yolanda-stricken barangays by Christmas day. There is nothing earthshaking about this except that Petilla put at stake his tenure in office if he fails to meet his own deadline.

Petilla has vowed to resign from the Cabinet should he fail to deliver his promise to fully restore electricity in Leyte which provides much of the power supply in Visayas.

The Tongonan geothermal power plant supplies 112 megawatts (MW) in the Visayas grid.

But more than this promise, Petilla is determined to bring back normalcy in the lives of the people of Leyte. After all, Petilla served them well as governor for almost three consecutive terms until President Benigno “Noy” Aquino lll recruited him to join his Cabinet.

President Aquino appointed Petilla as DOE chief on October 25 last year. Petilla accepted the appointment that cut short his third and last term as Leyte governor.

While most of the Aquino officials are jumping up and bragging about the growing Philippine economy, Petilla admitted he is not happy about it. In the third quarter, the Philippine economy grew by 7 percent in the first nine months of the year, according to latest report from the National Statistical Coordination Board.

To Petilla, this is a warning and a tall order for the government. If the economy is indeed growing by this much, Petilla admitted the Aquino administration must ensure base-load power plants are constructed now to avert potential power supply shortage. It takes at least three years to put up a base-load power plant.

Unfortunately, the Commission on Appointments (CA) failed to take up Petilla’s appointment before the 16th Congress adjourned last week for their Christmas recess. Three other Aquino Cabinet officials were also bypassed by CA: Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman; Justice Secretary Leila de Lima; and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje.

Unlike the case of Petilla, the confirmation of the three Cabinet members got snagged at the CA and bypassed several times already since they were appointed on day one of the Aquino administration. Latest word from the Palace has it that P-Noy issued new ad interim appointments for the nth time to Soliman, De Lima and Paje as well as that of Petilla.

When he was still a senator, Noy sought to limit the reappointment of presidential appointees subject to CA confirmation if bypassed thrice. In 2007, he filed Senate Bill 1719 — the proposed Appointee Ineligibility Act – seeking to empower the CA to declare as ineligible any presidential nominee who fails to secure confirmation after the third time.

Now that he is the appointing authority, 53-year-old P-Noy developed amnesia.

To his credit, the energy secretary is not waiting for the CA to confirm or reject his appointment. He made the public declaration he would step down from office in case he does not make good his promise to help restore power supply by Christmas day.

On the eve of Petilla’s self-imposed deadline, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) reported to the DOE they are nearing completion of the repairs being done to transmission lines damaged by super typhoon Yolanda last November 8.

As the country’s transmission highway operator, the NGCP disclosed last Monday more and more electric cooperatives were being reconnected back through NGCP’s transmission lines.

The National Electrification Administration (NEA), for its part, announced 70 electric cooperative-volunteers nationwide and 11 industry partners have restored power in 303 of the 319 municipalities where electricity services were cut off by Yolanda’s fury. This means 16 more municipalities still have no electricity.

The DOE chief, in coordination with the NGCP, the NEA, and other concerned agencies, committed to bring back the power services in the region in time for Christmas. Except for their own status reports, we have no way to countercheck their claims.

I do not know Petilla personally. In the radio and TV interviews, the DOE secretary strikes me as a Cabinet official who makes a lot of common sense. Compared to his predecessors who were mostly technocrats, the politician in Petilla has apparently transformed DOE into an agency more sensitive to public welfare issues on power.

The DOE chief has displayed common sense combining politics with impersonal technocracy by looking more after the welfare of consumers. On the raging all-time high power rate hike by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the secretary took the initiative to bring together the power industry players to work out a more reasonable, acceptable arrangement to implement the rate hike.

This should have been the task of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) headed by its chairperson Zenaida Ducut. Prior to being appointed as ERC chief in 2008, Ducut served as Pampanga congresswoman for three consecutive terms. This should have made Ducut also politically sensitive to such issue as power rate hikes.

But all this time, Ducut has been unusually quiet. Ducut’s name just came to national consciousness after the National Bureau of Investigation looking into alleged misuse of pork-barrel funds included her in the graft charges filed against several lawmakers.

While the ERC has kept quiet over the raging power rate hike issue, Petilla met with power industry players and appealed to them to help Meralco to at least spread over a three-month period the proposed P4.15 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) increase. The DOE chief reportedly also prodded power companies to cut their profit margins to help bring down costs of power.

In so many words, the political savvy of Petilla delivered the message to power firms: moderate your greed.  

Thankfully, the Supreme Court on Monday issued an order temporarily stopping for 60 days Meralco’s record-high power rate hike. This effectively enjoined ERC to suspend its ruling that allowed Meralco to increase rates, the first tranche of which was however already charged in this month’s billing.

So with more common sense on power gaining ground, it should give us reason to greet a Merry Christmas to all!