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HON. RAYMOND DEMOCRITO C. MENDOZA 20 March 2012
Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP Party-List)South Wing 204,
House of Representatives, 1126 Batasan, Quezon CityTel/Fax. No:
(02) 951-3011: Mobile No.: (0922) 8838453MRO:Louisivi J. Oliva
TUCP: Power shortage in Mindanao is artificialConspiracy to
blackmail consumers for higher rates
Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP Party-List) Representative
Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza
today decried what he called the man-made artificial power
shortage in Mindanao. There is
nothing to evidence that the power shortage is due to an act of
God or climactic change, contrary tostatements made by the National
Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and as well as
representations made by officials of the National Grid
Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), he
said.
In truth, the energy crisis has been nothing less than a product
of the power generators who have
ensured that power capacity remains down. This power crisis is
also exacerbated and made worseby governments failure to act on
long-standing demands that the siltation in the Agus-Pulangui
Hydroelectric plants be flushed. This is already a long-standing
demand of Congress two years ago
and yet the DOE has refused and has not yet acted on this
matter, Mendoza said.
Equally disturbing is the revealation that notwithstanding the
possibility of brownouts bringingour economy to a stand-still in
Mindanao, there are still four (4) power barges owned by the
National Power Corporation (NPC) which can easily be moved to
sites around Mindanao toaddress the power crisis and yet it is the
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management
Corporation (PSALM) who has been clamoring to sell these power
barges. What is it that they are
after? To create a situation where these power barges now
privately owned will be utilized and yetsell power at higher rates
to the poor Mindanaoans? he lamented. TUCP insists that this
power
barges not be sold and that NPC and PSALM reposition them to
Mindanao now, explained
Mendoza.
We are amazed at the duplicity of the National Grid Corporation
(NGCP) in declaring that there is
a power shortage of 145 Megawatts (MW). The truth is that there
is only about 45 MW shortagebecause the Agus-Pulangui plants are
currently under preventive maintenance, explainedMendoza.TUCP
firmly believes that NGCP is bloating the shortfall and arranging
the dispatch
schedules so as to make the brownouts worse than they should be,
said Mendoza.
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Mendoza also questioned the NGCP, NPC and PSALM also as to why
the plants are being
subjected to a preventive maintenance shutdown at this time. Why
could this not have been done
during December when the water levels of Agus-Pulangui were
still so high? It does not take arocket scientist to schedule
maintenance when they will cause less brownouts, explained
Mendoza.
Mendoza accused the generating corporations located in Mindanao
of deliberately not investing in
additional power capacity within franchise areas controlled by
their sister distribution companies
and the independent cooperatives in order to being about a
shortage. The shortage is man-madeby unscrupulous profiteers. They
know that if there is a shortage then that will help pressure
consumers to accept solutions based on high cost power. Presto,
more profits for the Aboitizes,
Lopezes and Alcantaras, said Mendoza.
In fact an on-the-spot investigation a team under the
sponsorship of Lanao Power Consumers
Confederation (LAPOCOF) under Dr. Melchie Ambalong and the
Mindanao Development
Authority (MinDA) under the leadership of Secretary Luwalhati
Lou Antonino has disclosed that
there are power generation plants that are currently available
and that can undertake generation ofsufficient power. But there is
curtailment of water flowing from the topmost plant which is
the
Agus 4. If this had not been curtailed, then the lower level
located powerplants Agus 5, 6, and 7would have been able to
generate sufficient power, said Mendoza. The same team also
pointed
that the water level today is as high as five months ago so
there is no decrease in water level which
would lower production of electricity by the Agus-Pulangai
hydropower complex, said Mendoza.
Mendoza revealed that there is a conspiracy to ensure that
Mindanaoans are blackmailed into
accepting a high power regime. We condemn this in the strongest
possible terms and we call on
our President to correct the matter by directing the Secretary
of DOE to immediately relocate thesepower barges without
privatization in order that prices remain affordable. There are 2
power barges
privatized in 2010 which electric co-ops do not want to buy
power from because it is selling power
at 15php/kwh. This is highway robbery and the DOE Secretary
knows it, said Mendoza.
Mendoza also said that the Agus 4 Plant repairs should be rushed
so that Agus 4, 5, 6 and 7 will
operate according to full capacity. TUCP maintained its
long-standing opposition to theprivatization of the Agus Pulangai
plants. The cost of hydropowers only 2.97php per kwh. If we
privatize it the new owners will charge an increase up to 5php
per kwh. We shouldnt allow what
happened in Luzon and Visayas to happen in Mindanao, stressed
Mendoza.
Mendoza also said that the Operational Management Agreement
(OMA) contract which allows
PSALM to run the NPC as its own, be rescinded. The OMA obligates
NPC to remit its gross
receipts to PSALM for the latter to pay the stranded costs of
NPC to international creditors. Webelieve that under this set of
circumstances, where the NPC will now be able to recover all
its
gross receipts, it will be able to allocate sufficient funds to
the flushing and cleaning up of the
siltation that is apparent in the Agus-Pulangui hydropower
complex area, explained Mendoza.
Further DOE should ensure that all power producers who wish to
enter the Philippine electricity
market, must allocate a certain percentage of their capacity to
power development of the baseload
in Mindanao, he added.
