Aquino urged to use gas fund to subsidize power rate hike

Sen. Sergio Osmeña III. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Serge Osmeña urged Malacañang to subsidize the estimated P10-billion additional generation costs that households in Metro Manila and neighboring areas would pay over two months to cover the P4.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) increase in the generation charge of the Manila Electric Cooperative (Meralco), a statement said.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), said President Benigno Aquino III could tap the Malampaya fund which has grown to more than P130 billion to alleviate the monetary burden of consumers.

“The Malampaya fund has gotten very fat,” Osmeña said. “It is time that it is used to ease the burden of power consumers,” said Osmeña who for years proposed that the government lower the royalty collected on Malampaya to lower power rates.

Osmeña said that it is better to spend the Malampaya fund than to lose it to Priority Development Assistance Fund scams.

He added that if the law establishing the Presidential Decree No. 910, which creates an energy development board, the government can achieve his proposition in two weeks.

Osmeña said that the president only needs to certify the bill for prioritization to speed up the process.

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