Power crisis shaping up as poll issue

Last month, former overseas contract worker Sitti Amina Harun told the Inquirer that she was having a hard time coping with the frequent brownouts in Zamboanga City. Harun sells processed meat (“tocino”), cupcakes and ice candies to support her six children.

“We always have blackouts and I don’t want my children to stay late at night to help me,” Harun then said.

Early this week, Harun broke the bad news—she will be leaving them to the care of relatives after she decided to, again, try her luck abroad. The reason: her two freezers were busted by the frequent power outages.

“If I have these repaired, I will lose the little savings I have. That’s why I have decided to go to Oman to be a domestic helper,” Harun said.

Supply vs demand

Elsewhere in Mindanao, people experience similar rotational outages. The government has simply explained that supply doesn’t meet demand.

President Aquino, during the Mindanao Power Summit in Davao City on April 13, said the island’s energy production capacity was at 1,280 megawatts, with peak demand at 1,300 MW, or a shortage of 20 MW, excluding the reserve margin of 150 MW.

And the government’s solution? Electric cooperatives must tap power provided by private producers.

People, however, have to pay more as power coming from private firms are more expensive.

Aside from rehabilitating the aging hydroelectric plants that produce most of Mindanao’s electricity, the government also suggests that the facilities be sold to the private sector.

Most Mindanao governors, lawmakers, mayors and civil groups are against the privatization of the power plants, saying this will only hasten the increase in electricity cost.

Mr. Aquino, days after presenting the government’s position during the Davao summit, said he was willing to hold further dialogues with the stakeholders. Still, he hinted that privatization was the way to solve the crisis.

Grassroots talk

Herminigildo Gultiano, 62, who sells candies and biscuits on the sidewalks of Claveria Street in Davao City, disagreed.

“Why would the government sell it to private companies when it’s even earning from its operations? We know the government is earning [from the plants] but the question is, where did [the government] put those earnings?” Gultiano asked.

Rufa Tiempo, 63, who earns her living vending in the streets of Davao City and doing some laundry, said the government’s solution would be a problem to people like her.

“Life is already hard as it is now, it will even be harder when the power plants that are making Mindanao electricity cheaper will be sold to private companies,” Tiempo said.

Susan Gacot, 28, a cashier at Jade Bookstore in Davao City, said she could not directly feel any increase in power rates because their consumption was being shouldered by their company, which provides a staff house for them.

“But the fact that the government is selling (the power plants) to private companies, which will operate these for profit, is something that should be opposed,” Gacot said.

“Once it is transferred to private hands, the electricity rates will go up. The new administration that will take over will implement new policies, and we, as consumers, will no longer have a choice,” she said.

Admin candidates

A bakeshop owner in Zamboanga City, Roel Batausa, did not like the way the President responded to the crisis. “It’s time to change our political leaders.”

But the midterm election is still next year, while the President’s term has yet to end in 2016. Yet, this early, several senatorial hopefuls are making their presence felt.

Grace Morales, a widow and a mother to three children in General Santos City, said she would not vote for politicians who are behind the privatization of Agus and Pulangi hydropower plants. She said she could hardly cope with the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities then here comes the planned privatization.

“Our electric bill keeps on increasing. What will happen if the power generation sector is privatized. Consumers will definitely suffer more,” Morales said.

She said the President did not give a damn precisely because he was living in comfort and he was not affected by the power crisis. “He’s not from Mindanao and he is not affected by the power crisis so he doesn’t care,” she said.

She believed that come 2013 polls, the power crisis will be among the many issues which the opposition or critics of the Aquino administration may raise against its candidates.

Art Legazpi, a boat engineer and owner of a vulcanizing shop in Zamboanga City, said people should not vote for those running with the administration’s support. “We should not vote for Mr. Aquino’s candidates,” Legazpi said.

Gultiano, the street vendor in Davao City, also said that the power crisis and how it was being resolved, particularly the privatization of the hydropower plants, would be a major election issue.

“It’s only during election time that we can get back at those candidates who continue to ignore the interest of consumers,” he said.

Harun, even if her plans to work abroad pushes through, vowed to campaign against those responsible for the power crisis.

“He is the President, but he has done nothing for us. He is the reason why two of my children have to stop going to college. He is the reason why I have to leave my children to work in Oman,” she said.

Harun is just one of the some 10 million voters in Mindanao. Reports from Julie S. Alipala, Germelina Lacorte and Aquiles Z. Zonio