MANILA, Philippines?Four million ?lifeline users,? or families consuming less than 100 kilowatt hours of electricity monthly, can expect a one-time subsidy of P500 to help them pay their power bills.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo launched her P2-billion power subsidy program Tuesday in Malacañang, handing out to 20 people ?certificates of qualification? for the P500 cash subsidy. She said the government had billions of pesos to spend for its pro-poor programs because of the increased revenue collections from the implementation of the expanded value-added tax on oil.

?While the high price of oil is a global issue outside the control of the government, we have nevertheless taken and will continue to take actions to reduce the pain on our people of these high prices,? the President said.

?We are setting aside P2 billion to help the poor pay their electricity bills using VAT collected from petroleum products, where 80 percent come from the rich. This is direct help to the poor, and, [as] I have said, the fruit from VAT for the masses,? she said.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development intends to start the power subsidy program in Metro Manila two weeks from now. It hopes to complete the program in three weekends, according to Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral.

The DSWD will put up disbursing offices in Metro Manila barangays (villages) on June 14-15, 21-22 and 28-29. Tellers from the Land Bank of the Philippines will handle the disbursements.

The specific barangays will be announced shortly, Cabral said in a phone interview.

?All they have to do is present their billing statement for May and an ID card,? she said.

As soon as the DSWD completes the disbursement of the subsidy for Metro Manila lifeline users, it will be ready to do the same in the provinces, Cabral said.

The President said this ?targeted cash payment to the poorest of the poor? was being done in an effort to ?reduce the fear? of the people brought about by the soaring cost of living.

The first group of beneficiaries was bused to Malacañang Tuesday.

Holding up a number of her monthly billing statements as though to prove that she was a low power consumer, Mary Ann Torcita, 31, said she was due to pay her P607 bill for the month of April.

Torcita said it did not matter that the government dole was a one-time thing.

?It?s better than nothing,? said the resident of Pandacan district and mother of one. At least, she added, the family would have extra money to buy rice and other staples.

Angeles Palma, 72, also of Pandacan, said she now had money to settle her April bill amounting to P637.15.

?At least I will have to add only P100,? said Palma, who noted that her power consumption last month was higher because of the summer heat that required the constant use of an electric fan.

According to the DSWD officials who brought the beneficiaries to Malacañang, households in the provinces are known to spend only P48 a month for electricity and, thus, the P500 subsidy will go a long way for them.

Cabral said the other day that lifeline users in the provinces could go to the Rural Electrical Cooperatives to claim the subsidy.

?Another doleout?

But according to Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of the Archdiocese of Manila, the P2-billion power subsidy to the poor is just another government ?doleout.?

?Any kind of aid to the poor is welcome, but we should also consider whether the type of help is sustainable,? Pabillo said Tuesday over the Church-run Radio Veritas.

He said the newest program was similar to the P5-billion food subsidy given to the ?poorest of the poor? last month.

?The timing of the P2-billion subsidy is also suspicious. Why is the government suddenly spending hundreds of millions for the people?? Pabillo said.

?We should also look at the reasons why they are doing this, especially if this would be a long-term solution,? he said.

Pabillo said doles would not help the people in the long run. He said the government should look for permanent and long-term solutions to economic problems.

In the same way that ?maybe we can look for other ways to develop sustainable energy without depending on fossil fuels anymore,? the government should also ?look for ways to create more jobs for the poor to help them stand on their own feet,? Pabillo said.

Cabral, however, shrugged off criticisms that the power subsidy would spur a ?doleout mentality.?

In the first place, she said, the subsidy was too small an amount and would not be a disincentive for people to work.

?This is a way of giving back to the people the advantages of the President?s fiscal reforms,? Cabral said.

Besides, she said, there was a need to give relief to the people, and then provide them with development programs.

?Thanks to reforms?

In her statement, Ms Arroyo said that if she had not instituted reforms, especially the VAT on oil and electricity, the government would not have had an additional P100 billion in its funds for the delivery of basic services to the poor and vital infrastructures since 2006.

She said these reforms had made it possible as well for the peso to strengthen against the dollar, which was now cushioning the effect of rising oil prices.

?If it were still P55 to a dollar, the pump prices of gasoline and diesel would have been P5 or more per liter, ? she said.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya told reporters that the P2-billion power subsidy was taken from the P4 billion that the government had so far collected from the VAT on oil.

Andaya said the VAT on oil was expected to amount to P18 billion this year.

He added: ?We want that whatever we collect, we give back immediately to the people.?

Middle class, too

As far as Speaker Prospero Nograles is concerned, the government can afford to increase the power subsidy to as much as P6.5 billion.

Nograles suggested that the P2-billion subsidy be expanded to include not just lifeline users but also the middle-income earners using as much as 500 kWh a month.

?This amount will provide a P1 per kWh subsidy for 96 percent of residential consumers in the [Manila Electric Co.] franchise area,? he said in a statement.

Even before Malacañang announced on Saturday its P2-billion power subsidy for lifeline users, Nograles had proposed that P16.7 billion be set aside to subsidize the people?s consumption of power, liquefied petroleum gas and diesel.

Citing a study by the House of Representatives? Congressional Planning and Budget Office, Nograles said the government stood to gain P16.7 billion from the increased collection of the VAT on oil.

Nograles is also pushing for an P8.3-billion subsidy for diesel at P1.30 a liter and a P1.9-billion subsidy for LPG at P1 a liter. These figures total P16.7 billion.

?Proposals to put a cap on systems loss and other proposals to bring down the cost of electricity are good, but I think it will take time before we see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak,? he said.

?These proposals are welcome as they can provide long-term solutions to our present woes. But what the people need right now is immediate relief, and the subsidy is the only available remedy right now,? he said. With reports from Margaux C. Ortiz and Norman Bordadora