MANILA, Philippines – Senator Joker Arroyo on Sunday blamed the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA law), not President Benigno Aquino III, for the worsening power crisis in Mindanao, saying the goals of the law were not achieved.
“You cannot blame the President on the power crisis in Mindanao…[the goal of EPIRA] was to lower the cost of electricity, and lessen the debts of the government, but it was not achieved,” said Arroyo. He added the situation “became worse because the cost of electricity is higher, and our debts have ballooned.”
He recalled that the EPIRA law, which he opposed in Congress, was enacted in 2001 among the major administration-backed bills under former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It had the simple goal of lowering the cost of power rates and reducing the debts of National Power Corporation (Napocor).
“It was good then, it was fast-tracked, but after 10 years, look what happened,” Arroyo asked.
Today the cost of electricity in the Philippines remains the highest in Asia, or second in the whole world, he noted in the interview wth DZBB.
“Let’s not even discuss what happened in between,” Arroyo said. “They sold NAPOCOR assets. Then what happened to power rates? They shot up. Worse, we had shortages in supply in Mindanao.”
So now, he concluded, 10 years after, rates are higher, debts are bigger, and there is a shortfall in supply.
When EPIRA was passed in 2001, there was no power problem in Mindanao because the island had an overproduction of electricity produced by Independent Power Producers (IPP).
“For the IPP, we pay for electricity they produced even we did not use it because there was over-production of electricity, but now the private investors have sold the IPPs, they have recouped their investments. But as for us, our problems remain the same, and our power rates are the highest or the second highest in Asia. What do we do?”
he added.
Arroyo went back to the concept of electricity to make his point, citing its three aspects: generation, transmission and distribution.
“Tatlo ang concept ng electricity, generation by hydro-electric plants; transmission, by the National Transmission Corporation (which was also privatized, and I opposed it), and third is distribution like the Meralco. Generation, transmission and distribution, in simple terms. Imagine that: since 2001 the situation did not improve; we’re still mired in problems. It’s so hard to explain what happened within those 10 years,” he concluded.
source: interaksyon.com
