By Tom Martin
March 7, 2010
from the blog: Reflections of a Retired Priest
Do you recall at the end of the Ramos Administration we were supposedly having a sever power shortage? Ramos was given special powers to deal with the problem and his solution was to enter into contracts with mostly foreign companies to purchase additional power. The power purchased was not used, but the people of the Philippines had to pay for it because the contract called for payment regardless if all the power purchased was used or not. We are still paying for Ramos’ and his cronies’ last minute “Golden Parachute” retirement fund through higher utility bills. I am sure the Administration of President Arroyo is familiar with how the Ramos Administration pulled it off and would at least consider trying it.
If there is a power shortage as severe as some in government are claiming then why is Napocor not using the four power barges they have available to them to supply additional power? If there is a severe power shortage then why was the plant in Iligan shut down on February 1, 2010? The manager of the Agusan del Norte Electric Cooperative claims the plant was ordered shut down by Napocor for no known reason. It has been reported the plant was shut down because the local government is owed taxes. If the government can allow Shell to operate while they owe billions in taxes then why can’t the power plant be allowed to operate? If there is a power shortage then why were so many power plants taken off line at one time for routine maintenance? If there is a severe power outage then why did one Co-operative in Mindanao refuse to recognize an order from government to initiate a 12 hour per day brown out. The board of the local co-op said they produce power from thermal energy and there is no need for a brown out at all, but they had honored the request for a one hour a day brown out.
No one in government can deny not knowing of the power shortage problems for over ten years. It was known during the Ramos Administration. The elected officials have known of the problem, yet not one single new power source has been build to solve the problem. Once again the Opposition Senators and Congress members want to put the blame on the President. Yes, she is as responsible as they are, but not more responsible. Perhaps if they would not have wasted so much time with Blue Ribbon hearings and internal bickering for political gain and spent mor time solving the problems of the citizens of the Philippines we would not be facing this problem today. Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said the President is in the middle of her decision making on how to address the problem, but she has to be mindful of the political ramifications of her decisions. In other words she has to be mindful of how the Opposition is going to use whatever she does against her Administration. While the people of the Philippines suffer the elected officials play politics.
So much was made about how Mindanao would prosper now that the Speaker of the House was from Mindanao. How so? I do not see any more prosperity or improvement than before. The power problem certainly was not helped.
Secretary of Energy Angelo Reyes said if the public is looking for someone to blame then blame God. He said the dams drying up are God’s fault not his. If we are looking for someone to blame the people we should blame are the elected officials that have been in office for the past 15 years or so, but not God. It is a shame that it took God to allow a weather situation to come about that may finally force the elected officials to do what they were suppose to do years ago. The real culprit to blame is those people who keep electing these same incompetent and corrupt politicians and their family members into office.
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes was in Davao a month or so ago. He was told about the backup power plant the local utility company has. He commented, “You must be fortunate here in Davao because you have a backup power plant here.” He leaves town and we start having brown outs. Are they necessary are the result of an order that came down from the Energy Department? I hope the City Fathers do not take the folks from Manila on any more tours of what we have in Davao.
Aquino wants the President to present a stop gap measures for licking the energy crisis before contemplating using emergency powers to address the problem. I noticed he did not offer any suggestions of what these stop gap measures might be. I suppose he is waiting to get an idea while on his next religious retreat or for his sisters to come up with some ideas. I guess if a man needs his sister to choose his clothes he certainly needs help with a problem as big as energy.
Senator Francis Pangilinan who is a supporter of Aquino says the President should have done something three years ago. He has been in the Senate and has known of the problem why did he not put as much energy into solving the energy problem and bringing the problem to the public’s attention as he did bashing the President. He said, “So the long and short of it is, this is the fault of President Arroyo.” I wonder what the Senator has been doing about the problem all those years he has held a political office and has been taking the peoples money (drawing a salary).
President Estrada blames the massive corruption in the Arroyo administration for the power shortage. I take that very seriously because he certainly would know about corruption and how it deprives the citizens of the services they need, while the politician get richer.
The members of the Congress and the Senate are so interested in the welfare of their constituents they cannot even return for a Special Session to address the energy crisis. The Speaker of the House said those in their final term are already on vacation and would not interrupt their plans to return. In other words they have taken all they can from the people and cannot run again and are now busy enjoying what they have taken. The Speaker said those who are up for re-election are not willing to come off the campaign trail for a Special Session. The President should call the Special Session and then the Administration should bash any member that did not return to address the energy crisis the people are facing. Perhaps the people would wise up and not return them to public office.
Come on politicians stop the blame game for political points and solve the damn problem! The majority of the citizens of the Philippines does not ride around in air condition cars, work in air condition offices, spend the evening in fancy restaurants and clubs and live in facilities with private power generators like you do. The majority of the citizens, poor and middle class, are trying to cook in the dark, get their kids home from school in the dark and since the brown outs are random we are trying to guess how to plan the things we need to do for our families and now you tell us that the brown outs are going to 12 hours a day. The politicians should be denied the same basic services they are denying us and then maybe they would get serious about solving the problems.
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