Recto warns against use of emergency power

Senator Ralph Recto. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines—Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto cautioned President Benigno Aquino on Monday against asking for emergency powers to avert an electricity crisis because he could get “electrocuted.”

What the executive department should rush instead are proposals to clear roadblocks to the construction of more power plants, the senator said.

“It is up to the President to demand them (emergency powers) but my view is that it should be the legislation of last resort,” he said in a statement.

Recto reminded the administration that emergency powers were “fraught with political risks.”

“Once he has it, the onus of solving the energy crisis falls on him.  If electricity rates will go up, for example, the people will expect him to tame the increase on the mistaken belief that he has the power to moderate them,” he said.

“In other words, emergency powers are (so) politically high-voltage that they can electrocute him. People will see it as the magic wand that can make high power rates go away or power plants go up in an instance.”

Some senators and representatives thumbed down Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone’s proposal to grant the President emergency powers to fast-track the construction of more power plants.

More power plants could meet the growing demand for electricity and bring down costs, Evardone argued. Such powers would allow the President to shorten the bidding process and simplify the “Swiss challenge mode of inviting investors in the power and transport sectors,” he said.

Commenting on the proposal, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said in a statement: “Does the government need emergency powers to fast-track new power plants? Probably not, but the issue is worth looking into.”

He said the public should not forget the consequences of the grant of such powers to President Fidel V. Ramos in the 1990s to deal with widespread blackouts.

“We ended up with much-criticized take-or-pay provisions where government and the people ended up paying for unused power. At the time, we were thankful to have more albeit expensive power as alternative to no power and blackouts. But I think we should be smarter now,” he added.

The Manila Electric Co. has warned that further constraints on its ability to collect the P4.15 per kilowatt hour power adjustment could disrupt the entire power industry.

Recto urged Energy officials to begin crafting amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Presidential Decree 910 on the use of the Malampaya gas proceeds, and other laws that supposedly stand in the way of the building of new power plants.

A key measure that Malacañang should craft is one that seeks to lift constraints in building new plants “in light of the universal consensus that massive blackouts loom beginning next year,” he said.

Quoting the Department of Energy, Recto said the Luzon grid would require 1,000 megawatts to meet the growing demand. From 2001 to 2013, Luzon peak demand of electricity surged from 5,646 mW to 8,300 mW, he noted.

Recto said Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla had proposed an amendment to the Epira law seeking to lift the prohibitions against the government operating power plants.

He said the inability of the Epira law to dispose of the National Power Corp.’s debts should also be revisited.

Recto said that unless PD 910 was rewritten, the government is barred from using proceeds from the Malampaya natural gas field for activities other than “energy resource development and exploitation.”

“We should also be open to the possibility of tapping it to mitigate steep power rate hikes during times when plants using more expensive fuel go in line to fill the void left by plants undergoing periodic maintenance,” he said.

In a landmark ruling in November, the Supreme Court struck down the provision allowing the President to use the special fund for non-energy related projects.

Recto said transparency provisions in both the Epira law and PD 910 should also be strengthened to avoid “a repeat of the recent fiasco when high power rates were negotiated in an electricity market marked by regulatory failure.”

“Any environment which encourages price collusion must be expunged,” he said.