Power crisis real, strategic but gov’t doing mere quick fix – labor coalition

NEWS RELEASE

NAGKAISA

28 November 2014

  

The emerging power crisis is a cruel outcome of a bad policy under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) that cannot be resolved by the proposed emergency power President Aquino is seeking from Congress, the labor coalition Nagkaisa said in a statement.

The group said it is not common for ordinary workers to comment on techno-economic aspects of the power industry, but for this coming celebration of Bonifacio Day on November 30, labor will come out loud on this along with other big issues because the high cost of power in the country is making the lives of ordinary workers more miserable.

According to Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson for Partido Manggagawa (PM) and one of the convenors of Nagkaisa,  “this quick-fix solution via an emergency power to address a decade-old problems of escalating rates and diminishing supply reignited labor’s apprehension that once again, a power crisis is being transformed into business opportunity for the private sector.”

Fortaleza was referring to the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) and power contracting being pursued through a joint resolution in Congress that would grant the President emergency powers to address the expected power shortage in 2015. 

He said the ILP can be pursued by the Department of Energy (DoE) even without the President exercising emergency powers because it is merely a demand-side management issue and not production of additional generating capacity as required under Section 71 of EPIRA.  

"Likewise, the foreign and privately-operated National Grid Corporation must first be made to account for its primary responsibility to secure reliable supply, including sufficient reserve capacities,"argued Fortaleza.

The group explained that the ILP is a mode for utilizing standby power or embedded generating capacity available in several establishments such as malls and commercial buildings. During shortage, their utilization means an x amount of freed megawatt capacity that can be supplied by Meralco to other users. 

Fortaleza, however, said that for this alone an emergency power is not needed.  So why is Malacanang asking for it?  The group can only think of the following scenarios:

    §  Under the ILP enrollment is voluntary but enrollees will be compensated to incentivize their             participation

    §  But because there is no system currently in place to exactly determine the price  of compensation,             imposing a universal levy – an x amount per kWh to be charged to consumers take-or-pay  – is             the most likely scheme.

    §  Retail electricity suppliers (RES) who already posses contracted capacities under the open access             (but which they cannot supply to their contestable market because most of them are also ILP             players) will also be compensated.

     

     These, in effect, will result to rate increases.   But Fortaleza insists that a take-or-pay levy cannot be charged to consumers under ILP since embedded generation sets were designed or were practically built by industry players to address expected and non-expected outages.

“So why do we have to pay them for that temporary sacrifice?  And why will Henry Sy, John Gokongwei and Jaime Ayala charge an x amount per kWh from everyone, including non-mall users?”

The group argued further that the only valid excuse for utilizing emergency powers is when the government  goes back to generation, stop industry fraud, and makes a decisive shift to renewable energy and energy democracy.

Workers blame government for new power emergency

PRESS RELEASE

16 September 2014

For doing nothing during the last four years, a second power crisis is materializing under the watch of the second Aquino, the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

“Had the government acted in advance, one of which was going back into generation as recommended by the 19^th EPIRA Status Report of 2011, the President would not have been begging for emergency powers from Congress which the same body that enacted the failed Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) in 2001,” said PM spokesperson Wilson Fortaleza.

Fortaleza said that as early as 2010, red flags on the supply side have already been raised by experts and by the government itself.  Even the labor sector under the coalition Nagkaisa! had been calling on the government since 2012 to decisively address the twin problems of high cost and diminishing power supply.

“Yet the government opted to stay in the sidelines, waiting for the promised megawatts from private players to come online. But to no avail,” lamented Fortaleza

“Now PNoy has placed himself in a situation where his mother once failed: Presiding over a power crisis in a panicky and very costly manner,” explained Fortaleza.

The group said that since there is no more time to build an additional 600-700MW capacity to fill in the annual deficit beginning next year, the government is left with no option but to revert back to provisional and very costly mode of power contracting, similar to the notorious IPP contracts done by the Aquino and Ramos regimes.

“These instant, palliative solutions will bring us, poor consumers, more pain,” said Fortaleza.

But before Congress expressly grant PNoy emergency powers, the group said it is but judicious to declare first that EPIRA and privatization failed.

Second, the group said an audit of all the plants’ capacities as per contracts must be done first to determine the actual numbers since there are reports that power plants are not running on their full capacities or are not properly maintained.

Third, Malacanang must also show the real cost of the planned contract that it will enter into, for how long, to whom, and the actual terms it is willing to commit.

Fourth, with or without emergency, the government should strongly push for a shift to renewable energy.

And lastly, emergency powers must not be granted to the Executive if it has no clear, effective and doable plan to strategically address this oppressive, decade-old energy crisis.

Workers want full prohibition not a compromise deal on power rate hike

PRESS RELEASE

NAGKAISA

20 March 2014

 Organized labor under Nagkaisa is insisting for no less than the full prohibition of the December 2013 and January 2014 rate hike, rejecting in effect the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation’s (PEMC) recomputed rate that is 80 percent lower than the approved market rate in December and January.

 PEMC, which operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), said on Tuesday that it had finished its recalculation of market prices in compliance with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) order of March 3.  For the December 2013 billing, it set the new spot market rates at P6.007 (76.35 percent lower) than the P25.404 per kWh, and P6.246 (77.98 percent lower) than the original P28.367 per kWh for the billing month of January 2014. 

 “The numbers are out and PEMC’s recomputed rates bared all the elements of market failure.  We insist that any residual cost coming from this failure must be deemed unjust and therefore should not be passed on to consumers,” said Wilson Fortaleza of Nagkaisa power team. 

 Fortaleza, who is also the spokesperson of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), argued further that in this particular case, the market failure was also a result of regulatory failure the more it should not be borne by the consumers.

 He pointed specifically to the failures of the ERC and PEMC to regulate the market despite the expected tightness in supply due to the Malampaya shutdown and also being aware of official reports citing repeated occurrence of market abuse since WESM started operating in Luzon in 2006; and the failure on the part of the Department of Energy (DoE) to ensure reliable supply of power and impose sanctions on erring power plants. 

 Tomorrow, Nagkaisa and the Power to the People (P2P) network will stage a picket rally at the PEMC to call for the suspension of WESM operations, saying it is not the consumers but the rich owners of generation and distribution companies who profitably gain from this fraudulent trading scheme.

There are also reports that the PEMC Board, who are not independent but made up of the players themselves, receives fat compensations and other perks, including brand new service vehicles.

“We challenge the government to tell the people the truth that WESM won’t work in a very small and highly concentrated market ruled by certified predators in the power industry,” concluded Fortaleza.

ERC asked to fully void rate hike, suspend WESM operations

PRESS RELEASE

Nagkaisa!

Labor groups under the Nagkaisa coalition is asking the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to fully void all pending rate hikes in Luzon that were affected by ‘market failure’ during the maintenance shutdown of Malampaya gas platform from November to December last year. 

In addition the group is also calling for the suspension of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) operations to protect consumers from predatory pricing to one of the most essential of human needs – electricity. 

The call came after the ERC, invoking police powers, ordered the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) to ‘recalculate’ the WESM prices during the said period.

“Now that the ERC begins to invoke police powers in dealing with market failures we then demand that it utilizes them to the max.  If not then its order for recalculation of WESM prices in December can be viewed as mere publicity stunt,” said Wilson Fortaleza of Nagkaisa power team. 

The group is particularly cautious about a recalculation that may result to mere reduction in rate rather than in complete prohibition of the amount applied which in the case of Meralco totalled P4.15/kWh. ERC Executive Director Saturnino Juan has already indicated that the recalculation may result to the reduction of rates by more than half.  

Fortaleza, who is also the spokesperson of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM), reminded the ERC of the principle stated previously by Malacanang that unjust prices resulting from wrong commercial decisions or market failure cannot be passed on to or borne by the consumers.

“We are glad that at last the ERC has finally found the elements of market failure that it chooses to ignore during EPIRA’s 12 years of implementation,” said Fortaleza.

According to the group, WESM itself is a failure since it began operating in 2006.  By concept it is supposed to be at WESM where we can buy the cheapest electricity since the product is sold here at marginal cost of declared excess capacities of power plants. 

In July 2006 the inaugural price at WESM was P2.00/kWh.  During the Malampaya shutdown between November and December last year prices at WESM breached the maximum offer cap of P62.00/kWh.

“Kung hindi ito krimen ano ang tawag dito?  The market is supposed to be ‘reasonable’, ‘rational’ and ‘competitive’, to borrow words from ERC.  But it is not. It never was under EPIRA,” said Fortaleza, explaining that a highly concentrated electricity market in the country can never be reasonable as trading is controlled by pivotal plants owned by certified predators in the power industry.

Tomorrow Nagkaisa is organizing a picket at the offices of the ERC in Ortigas Center to press for the full voiding of Meralco and other pending applications for rate hike within the Luzon grid.  It will also call for the suspension of WESM operations.

Workers call for reformatting of the power industry

NAGKAISA

PRESS RELEASE

29 January 2014

The power industry needs not just a reboot but a major reformatting to better serve the country’s current and future energy needs and to satisfy the people’s clamour for affordable and sustainable power.

This, according to the labor coalition Nagkaisa, should be the new frame in seeking amendments or replacement to the failed Electric Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA.

The group made this challenge as some of its leaders attended the Department of Energy’s (DoE) consultations on EPIRA amendments while its members called for the law’s scrapping in a demonstration held outside the Legends Hotel in Mandaluyong City. 

“A bad law like EPIRA may need some amendments to address the current mess.  But a wrong policy such as wholesale privatization can only be addressed by replacing it with a new one, a better one,” stated Josua Mata, one of the convenors of Nagkaisa.

Mata, who is also the secretary general SENTRO, told the DoE that workers will engage the amendment process in Congress and at the same time work for its replacement when such is probable amid the incurability of EPIRA and the viability of other options.

Another convenor, Louie Corral of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), said amendments are necessary on issues of cross-ownership; the generation being a ‘non-public’ utility, reforms in the ERC (composition and rate-setting methodology); privatization of the transmission system and the Agus-Pulangi hydro complexes in Mindanao; retail competition and open access; and on electric cooperatives, among others.

It can be recalled that in a petition letter submitted to President Aquino during the Labor Day celebration of 2012, Nagkaisa raised the following issues to the Executive, some of these require legislative actions:

1.      Removal of oil and power from EVAT coverage;

2.      Stopping the indexation of/or pegging the prices of natural gas and geothermal steam to international prices of oil and coal;

3.      Stopping the ERC’s implementation of Performance Based Rate (PBR) methodology as this allows power firms to increase rates in anticipation of future expansion and other capital expenditures; and,

4.      Reforming the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

The group also bats for the re-nationalization of the transmission lines and the permanent stay in the planned privatization of the Agus-Pulangi.

Partido ng Manggagawa spokesperson, Wilson Fortaleza, another convenor said the country and the people will not accept another 13 years of failed rule under EPIRA.

“It’s time to rethink and come up with a new model of public power that is completely different from what the industry is, before and under EPIRA. Fortunately we are blessed with so much national potential to do that.  It is only the government that thinks it can’t be done without the prescribed track imposed by the ADB and World Bank,” said Fortaleza.

Advisory: Workers picket DOE consultation

Workers to PNoy: Apply step 3 on P4.15/kWh Meralco hike

NAGKAISA

PRESS RELEASE

25 January 2014

  

Asserting its position that recent price hikes in electricity market were the result of wrong commercial decision and regulatory failure, the labor coalition Nagkaisa called on Malacanang to apply step 3 of President Aquino’s declared position on power hike. 

“Rectifications must be done outright on the P4.15/kWh Meralco hike, not on future occurrences of similar nature,” said Wilson Fortaleza, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) spokesperson and one of the convenors of Nagkaisa labor coalition. 

Corrective steps were announced by Malacanang yesterday, amid the heightening controversy on Meralco’s sharp generation rate hike for the November - December billing period. 

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma explained that under Step 1, preparations should be made to for foreseeable events such as regular maintenance. Step 2 is to ensure that regulators prevent collusion. And Step 3 will ensure that unjust price hikes are not passed on to and borne by the consumers.

“The test for Malacanang right now is whether it can apply Step 3 to the Meralco case and prevent the same in the future by applying Step 1 and 2,” said Fortaleza.

Nagkaisa said that if this can be done outright, it will erase the suspicion that investigations at the Executive and Legislative levels are leading to the exoneration of private players, pin the blame to the system operator, and subsidize the cost of market failure from the Malampaya fund.

The group is opposed to Malampaya subsidizing market failure as this is tantamount to subsidizing fraud.  Labor groups contend that risks borne out of wrong commercial decisions must be at no cost to consumers.

Workers had been protesting the power hikes on the belief that they were caused by flawed policies under EPIRA.

Workers ask Senate to declare EPIRA a failure

NAGKAISA

PRESS RELEASE

23 January 2014

With the committee on energy resuming its probe on the spike in Meralco rate today, the labor coalition Nagkaisa, pressed the Senate as a whole to declare the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) a failure and consider crafting a new policy framework for sustainable energy and energy democracy. 

The group, which held another picket outside the Senate building, said that unless there is a declaration to that effect, public hearings and investigations will offer no material relief to consumers.

Nagkaisa explained that since 2008, consumer groups have attended, submitted position papers, and argued against the ills of EPIRA before committee hearings of both houses of Congress, including those conducted by the powerful Joint Congressional Power Committee (JCPC).  Yet no actions were made to address those concerns. 

“Public hearings end with another scheduled hearing then nothing happens until another controversy arises. Workers are really tired of wishy-washy intervention on a social problem of this scale,” Nagkaisa said, referring to the crises of escalating power rates and diminishing supply. 

Nagkaisa asserted that since the enactment of EPIRA which led to the deregulation of the generation of generation sector, privatization of Napocor assets, creation of the spot market, and the introduction of performance-based regulation.  Fraud became the norm in the power industry as shown by rising prices and cartelization.

The group reminded the Senate that in 2008, Senator Miriam Santiago who chaired the JCPC then stated in her opening remarks in one of JCPC’s public hearings that EPIRA is a failure; the Senate is a failure as well as the Executive. 

“That is seven years ago and the people will not accept another decade of unrewarding probes to a mess that has been there since day one of the implementation of EPIRA,” said the group.

Nagkaisa has been protesting the power hikes which they believed were caused by flawed policies under EPIRA.

Workers to ‘gods of Faura’: Stop power firms’ blackmail, fraud

NAGKAISA

PRESS RELEASE

20 January 2014

While politicians and businessmen have joined President Aquino for the National Day of Prayer and Solidarity to the victims of natural and man-made calamities, workers in Metro Manila belonging to the labor coalition Nagkaisa, trooped to the Supreme Court to seek relief and ultimate deliverance from unjust power rate hikes. 

The fifteen (15) justices, also known as ‘The gods of Faura’, were set to hear oral arguments tomorrow on several petitions seeking injunctions to Meralco’s P4.15/kWh rate increase.  Prime in the agenda to resolve are questions on whether or not the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) committed grave abuse of discretion in approving Meralco rate hike; whether or not automatic rate adjustment is valid; and whether or not the generation sector is not a public utility and therefore beyond regulation by ERC, among others.

“We pray that the justices deliver us from a decade-old fraud and industry blackmail,” said Nagkaisa in a statement released during their picket at the gates of the Supreme Court building. The group was referring to frauds committed under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), including the latest allegations on collusion and market abuse among power firms and the latter’s threat of rotating blackouts had they fail to collect rate increases. 

Nagkaisa asserted that since the enactment of EPIRA which led to the deregulation of the generation of generation sector, privatization of Napocor assets, the creation of spot market, and the introduction of performance-based regulation, fraud became the norm in the power industry as shown by rising prices and cartelization.

“It is no secret that owners of power firms, the so-called Voltage 5 (Aboitiz, Lopez, San Miguel, Henry Sy, and Pangilinan) have been earning record high profits from record high tariffs of their power-related firms,” said Nagkaisa.

The labor coalition recalled that lowering the cost of power was the pledge of the Arroyo administration when it prodded Congress to pass the EPIRA upon assumption to power 13 years ago today. 

Nagkaisa explained further that since 2008, many of its convenor groups have attended, submitted position papers, and argued against the ills of EPIRA before committee hearings of both houses of Congress, including those conducted by the powerful Joint Congressional Power Committee (JCPC).  Yet no actions were made to address those concerns. 

It likewise chided the Executive for peddling the line that the only choice for now is between expensive power, or having no power at all.

“We hope the Supreme Court brings light to a dark decade of power hikes, naked greed, and blackmail amid unreliability of power supply,” concluded Nagkaisa!

If Petilla can offer his head, why can’t Ducut and Ocampo do the same?

Press Statement

December 26, 2013

NAGKAISA!

The news of Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Jericho Petilla tendering his resignation in the wake of failure to meet his self-imposed deadline in bringing back electricity to areas ravaged by typhoon Yolanda is all over the air.  Whether the President will accept his resignation or not can be part of a ploy. But nevertheless, Petilla had the guts to place his head on the chopping board.

We wonder, however, if other inept officials in the energy family – particularly Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson Zenaida Ducut and Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) head Mel Ocampo can do the same.

Petilla who heads the DoE is equally responsible for the government’s failure to stop the P4.15/kWh rate increase imposed by Meralco.  But Ducut and Ocampo who are in the frontline and supposed to be the first persons to detect market failure and protect consumers' welfare stood idle before the coming tsunami of power hikes. They therefore should go.  

Truth is, throughout their tenures, they have consistently failed to discharge their duties of regulating the power industry properly. The latest fiasco is just the culmination of years of ineptitude and incompetence.

As early as 2012, they were aware of scheduled maintenance shutdown and yet they did nothing to prevent the largest market failure in the power sector to date. In the process they unduly enriched Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to the tune of 10 billion pesos for a month’s worth of power outages!

They should go based on the principle of command responsibility. At the least, they allowed the electricity market to be gamed, and at the most, they are a party to the reported collusion among power firms.

                                     

Ducut and Ocampo should be investigated for possible charges of economic sabotage.

It’s also the time for the regime of Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to go.

Militants slam Serge Osmena for “no collusion” statement

Press Release

December 19, 2013

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) today slammed Sen. Serge Osmena for pre-empting the probes by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the huge power rate hike with his statement yesterday that there is no collusion among generation companies and Meralco. The two departments are precisely looking into allegations of collusion.

“Serge is a consistent supporter of power industry players since his sponsorship of the EPIRA Law which ushered in the era of high electricity rates to his defense of Meralco’s gargantuan rate hike,” opined Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson.

Fortaleza is one of the signatories to the complaint against Meralco and generation companies lodged by groups last Monday with the DOJ Office for Competition. DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima pledged to come up with a finding by January next year.

Meanwhile PM continued its campaign of picketing Meralco branches. Yesterday its Cavite chapter protested at the Meralco branch and depot in Dasmarinas City. Tomorrow, PM members will picket the Meralco branch in Marilao, Bulacan. Last Monday PM staged a coordinated picket of branches in Paranaque, Rizal and Cavite.

“Serge’s statement is a mere opinion and not even a conclusion after an investigation. At the Senate hearing, even as senators grilled officials of the Energy Regulatory Commission and the DOE, they handled with kid gloves representatives of Meralco and the generation companies. As to why, it may be necessary to look into election campaign contributions by power industry players,” Fortaleza averred.

PM asserts that the Meralco price increase is unconscionable since it is an act of economic terror amid calamities, inequality and poverty in the country. Fortaleza argued that “It is also unfair. Workers in NCR were only granted P10 per day or P260 per month under Wage Order No. 18. The P4.15/kwh total increase in Meralco’s rate is an additional P830 burden for households consuming 200 kwh per month.”

“The worker-led consumer campaign against collusion by Meralco and the generation companies to drive electricity prices will continue and intensify next year. Consumers anger will boil over when they get their next electricity bills,” Fortaleza predicted.

Protests vs. Meralco rate hike spreads outside Manila as coordinated picketing staged

Press Release

December 16, 2013

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) staged a coordinated picketing of Meralco branches as protests against the huge power rate hike intensified at the grassroots level and spread outside Metro Manila. Meralco branches in Paranaque, Rizal and Cavite were picketed this morning and afternoon by several hundred workers and urban poor.

Also today, the PM spokesperson together with leaders of other groups formally asked for an anti-competition inquiry on Meralco’s rate hike. The request was filed with the Office for Competition which is under the DOJ and was created by E.O. 45 series of 2011.

“If competition exists in the power industry then business interests would collide but under EPIRA, the players collude,” stressed Wilson Fortaleza, PM spokesperson, as he joined the filing of the request for inquiry on unfair competition against Meralco and generation companies.

He added that “It is futile to pursue an honest scrutiny of Meralco’s huge rate hike through the ERC which is totally captured by monopolists in the power industry. Instead we hope the Office from Competition can give a fair hearing to the complaint. If PNoy is serious about investigating Meralco’s hike, then he can do something through the Office for Competition which is under his authority, unlike the ERC.”

At 10:00 am today, PM members trooped to the Meralco branch in Tambo, Paranaque and Antipolo City in Rizal. Later at 3:00 pm, other PM members in Cavite picketed branches in the towns of Rosario and Dasmarinas.

In the next few days, PM will continue the series of protests with pickets in Marilao, Bulacan and GMA, Cavite.

Advisory: Filing of anti-competition inquiry; coordinated picketing of Meralco branches

Media Advisory
December 16, 2013

Groups to ask for anti-competition inquiry

as pickets to be held in outlying Meralco braches

WHAT: Picket-protests and request for anti-competition inquiry vs. Meralco and generation companies

WHEN: Today, December 16, 11:00 am

WHERE: Department of Justice (DOJ), Faura, Manila

DETAILS: Members of the Partido ng Manggagawa will have a picket-protest today at the DOJ as their leaders together with other groups and personalities formally ask for an anti-competition inquiry on Meralco’s rate hike. The request will be filed with the Office for Competition which is under the DOJ and was created by E.O. 45 series of 2011.

Also today, the protests vs. Meralco’s fare hike goes to the grassroots and expands outside Metro Manila with a coordinated picketing of Meralco branches:

10:00 am, Tambo, Paranaque and Antipolo, Rizal

3:00 pm, towns of Rosario and Dasmarinas in Cavite

“It is futile to pursue an honest scrutiny of Meralco’s huge rate hike through the ERC which is totally captured by monopolists in the power industry. Instead we hope the Office from Competition can give a fair hearing to the complaint. If Pnoy is serious about investigating Meralco’s hike, then he can do something through the Office for Competition which is under his authority, unlike the ERC,” according to Wilson Fortaleza.

Highest power rate hike not acceptable, unjust

Press Release

December 7, 2013

The Partido ng Manggagawa, a member of labor coalition Nagkaisa, rejects the impending power rate hike of P4.15/kwh in the Meralco area based on the following grounds:

1.    This is unconscionable, an act of economic terror amid calamities, deepening inequality and poverty in the country.

2.    This is unjust.  When imposed, the P4.15 rate adjustment will be the highest in Philippine history.  This will also be the highest residential rate in the world.

3.    This is unfair.  Workers in NCR were only granted P10 per day or P260 per month under Wage Order No. 18.  The P4.15/kwh increase in Meralco rate is additional P830 burden for households consuming 200 kwh per month.

4.    The rate hike, on the contrary, cannot be imposed arbitrarily by Meralco as explained earlier by Malacanang.  Meralco has to secure the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

5.    The steep hike could have been prevented.  The Malampaya shutdown is not due to force majeure.  It is part of regular biannual maintenance therefore expected and has already been factored in in Meralco’s power supply agreements (PSA) with its suppliers, particularly First Gas’ Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo and Kepco Ilijan.  The PSA should have included provisions on “replacement power”.

Based on First Gen’s submission to the Philippine Stocks Exchange (PSE) on March 20, 2012, it was explained that,“Although the Sta. Rita plant is intended to operate on natural gas, if delivery of natural gas is delayed or interrupted for any reason, the plant has the ability to run on liquid fuel for as long as necessary without adverse impact to its operation or revenues.” The same business model goes with San Lorenzo.

6.    This is market failure.   Collusion among generation companies, which has been the name of the game under EPIRA, is most possible after the Malampaya shutdown to drive prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) up.

7.    This is failure in governance.  The government, particularly the Department of Energy, should not have allowed this artificial shortage as a result of simultaneous shutdowns of power plants following the shutdown of Malampaya. 

Inihahalintulad namin ang delubyong ito bilang panibagong kalamidad dala ng kasakiman ng mga kumpanya ng kuryente na walang pinipiling panahon para gawin ang kanilang pandaramobong, at sa gubyerno na sa lahat ng panahon ay natutulog sa pansitan.

Cybercrime law a product of low quality legislation, sloppiness of P-Noy

PRESS RELEASE

04 October 2012

  

Even as authors retract and propose amendments to Republic Act No. 10175 or the anti-cybercrime law, the militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) advised netizens and the general public to expect more low quality legislation and more blunders from Malacanang.

“The cybercrime law was definitely a low quality piece of legislation approved and completed into law by a signature of a sloppy President,” stated Partido ng Manggagawa chair Renato Magtubo.

The labor group believes that while the State has the right to impose regulation to any industry or any activity to promote the common good, to regulate freedom just to flush out cybercriminals however requires a very meticulous mind and a careful balancing act.

“We are also interested in seeing the faces and in penalizing cybercriminals who are victimizing women, children, OFWs and many innocent citizens.  But their confinement cannot be made a substitute to the curtailment of our freedom to express ourselves,” stressed Magtubo.

Magtubo, who is a former partylist representative, said the labor sector never expects a major change in this level of legislation with certificates of candidacies for the 2013 national and local elections filled up with the same names and parochial interests dominating the country’s elective positions.

The former lawmaker recalled the same blunder attending the passage of the infamous Electric Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA, which Gloria Arroyo, upon signing, admitted that the law contained many flaws and loopholes. 

“Now, we’re suffering the harsh consequence of EPIRA by having the most expensive power rates in the world.  Yet Congress is not moving to repeal this law,” added Magtubo.

And as convenor of the biggest labor coalition NAGKAISA!, Magtubo also complained that while the cybercrime law was enacted in speed,  the labor-backed legislation such as the Security of Tenure Bill (SOT), the Freedom of Information (FOI) and the Reproductive Health Bill (RH) gather dust in the legislative mill.

Groups say ADB harms workers in the Philippines

Press Release

May 4, 2012      

More than a hundred members of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) joined the newly-formed Nagkaisa labor coalition in a rally workers rally against the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting this morning as President Benigno Aquino II was due to give as speech.

“PNoy should not cover up the number of poor in the Philippines and the ADB should not wash its hands off the worsening poverty in the country. The ADB is an instrument of corporate greed that has aggravated the destitution of the 99% in Asia,” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair. “ADB’s privatization intensifies poverty,” the workers chanted as they assembled in Harrison Plaza and then tried to make their way to the PICC, the venue of the meeting.

Magtubo explained that “The ADB meeting’s theme of inclusive growth is mere doubles-speak for its policies of privatization are tailor-fit to facilitate the fire sale of state-owned assets to giant multinationals and big capitalists. As a result of ADB-funded privatization, the costs of electricity and water in the Philippines have skyrocketed and as a result workers real wages have fallen despite yearly increase in nominal wages.”

The ADB pushed for the passage and provided loans for the implementation of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). In 2000, Magtubo exposed a P500,000 payola for members of the House of Representatives to ensure the legislation of the controversial EPIRA.

The Nagkaisa-led rally of several hundred workers today follows the coalition’s historic 20,000-strong May Day mobilization which brought together the country’s main labor groups for the first time since the 1980’s. “The unity of labor last May 1 has made government listen to our concerns. The rally today is part of the next step—the struggle of workers to make government grant our demands,” Magtubo insisted. Among the list of demands that Nagkaisa submitted to Malacanang last Labor Day is the repeal of EPIRA and the lowering of power costs to consumers.

Magtubo expressed fear that the ADB also has a hand in the proposed privatization of the Agus-Polangi hydroelectric plant in Mindanao as a purported solution to the power crisis in the island. The proposal has been temporarily shelved due to widespread opposition in Mindanao.

He added that “The ADB’s shadow can also be seen in the scheme to sell off to private interests the provision of water services in municipalities. The ADB is Asia’s mini-IMF and mini-WB, and its public relations pitch is a result of the discrediting of the policies of privatization, deregulation and liberalization worldwide.”

Protests against high electricity rates continue at grassroots

Press Release
May 7, 2010

Despite the announced reduction in Meralco rates for the month of May, protests against high electricity rates continue. The protests went to the grassroots today as consumers in Paranaque picketed a nearby Meralco branch.

A hundred residents from different Paranaque communities converged at the Tambo branch of Meralco for the protest. The consumers are calling for a bigger reduction in the household electricity rates and a refund of the P15 billion overcharging since 2003 as revealed by a COA audit. Neighborhood associations of Tucuma, Sta. Cecilia, Fatima, Purok 7 in Multinational Village, Wakas and Damayan participated in the picket.

“The fight for lower electricity bills continues. We want a larger decrease in Meralco’s charge. We also want a refund of the overbilling by Meralco,” declared Michelle Licudine, a leader of party-list group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) in Paranaque.

Yesterday PM members joined the Freedom from Debt Coalition in a picket at the Napocor main office and the Meralco branch in Kamuning, Quezon City. PM is calling on consumers to sustain the protest in the streets and in the internet against the high electricity rates despite the announced cuts by Meralco.

“Militant street protests complement the angry blogs, tweets and postings in the internet. Activists in the streets and in cyberspace unite!,” Licudine exclaimed.

She argued that “Public pressure should be put against Meralco and other utilities in the face of the failed regulatory functions by the government and the power firms’ greed for more profit. When regulation fails to protect consumers from corporate greed and abuse, street protests is a must option for the burdened consumers.”

The group assailed the failed promise of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) for lower power rates. “Instead we are in the midst of a power crisis that even threatens to lead to a failure of elections. While people suffer daily brownouts, consumers have to face huge electricity bills. This is a double whammy that we do not to suffer,” Licudine insisted.

PM is calling for a reversal of the privatization of the power industry that was ushered in by the EPIRA. Licudine argued that “From its birth, EPIRA was burdened with an original sin and its evils are only now being revealed for all to see,” Licudine reminded. Former PM party-list representative in Congress Renato Magtubo led the expose on the multi-million payola attending the passage of the EPIRA in year 2000.

Protests continue despite Meralco’s P1.26/kwh reduction in generation charge

PRESS RELEASE
06 May 2010

The labor partylist group, Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and the Freedom from Debt Coalition proceeded with their planned mass action today against power rate hikes despite Meralco’s announcement that it is cutting its rate by P1.26/kwh beginning this month.

“Meralco’s announcement may have been prepared to diffuse the rapid buildup of protest against its unjust rates,” said PM spokesman Wilson Fortaleza, referring to the growing outbursts against power rate hikes that now even reaches the cyberspace prior to the announcement.

Fortaleza said that despite the announced rate cut, more mass protests should be launched against Meralco and other utilities in the face of the failed regulatory functions by the government and the power firms’ insatiable greed for profit.

“Meralco is a regulated utility. But when regulation fails to protect consumers from corporate greed and repeated abuse, street protests become the necessary option for the hapless consumers,” explained Fortaleza.

Meralco’s rate surged to the highest level this month due to tight supply and the hikes in the price of electricity traded at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). According to Meralco, its IPPs which provide more than half of Meralco’s requirements were forced to shutdown their operations last month due to routine maintenance at the Malampaya gas field, forcing them to source power at WESM but for more than what is required of them, which is limited to only 10%.

Under the Electric Power Reform Act or EPIRA, Meralco has the obligation to deliver power to its customers at the least cost manner.

“Yet, Meralco always has this predilection of passing the burden of its erroneous practices to its captive clients by way of over-charging and through other forms of corporate fraud,” protested Fortaleza, insisting that instead of a price hike, Meralco rather owe the consumers refundable amounts in over-charging as found in the 2009 COA Audit.

The COA audit revealed that Meralco has over billed its customers by at least P15-B from 2003 onwards.

Before proceeding to the Meralco’s Kamuning branch, PM members made a kick-off protest at the gates of the National Power Corporation (NPC) to highlight what the group claims is the symbol of failed electricity governance.

Some 80% of NPC assets have already been privatized, including many of its pivotal plants. But contrary to what the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) has envisioned in 2001, the privatization program led to more power rate hikes, and now the new episode of power crisis.

“Now who is afraid of people power? Power rate hikes, power crisis, and a failing electoral exercise could be a perfect combination for another one,” concludes Fortaleza.