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.
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