An Internet cafe attendant sits idly amid a brownout. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the country could lose P3.3 billion in economic activity if a Luzon-wide brownout persists. INQUIRER FILE
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is urging the Duterte administration to immediately address the country’s unstable power situation, warning that a Luzon-wide power outage could cost the country P3.3 billion in economic productivity per hour.
Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on energy, made the call Wednesday following the recurring power supply problems on the Luzon grid since last week.
“Widespread power outages across Luzon would bring national economic productivity to a standstill. The Duterte administration must look into immediately expanding the power supply by tapping new energy resources,” he said in a statement.
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The senator said the estimated P 3.3 billion losses were computed from the official 2016 first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) statistics released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier this year. These statistics, he said, include potential losses from industries which rely primarily on grid power, including manufacturing, retail, trade, and the services sector.
Sectors which usually have the expanded capacity to rely on self-generated power, including agriculture, quarrying, and construction, however, were not included in the figure, he said.
As chair of the energy committee, Gatchalian promised to prioritize measures that would stabilize Philippine energy supply.
He also promised to work with Department of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi “to create an integrated policy and legal framework which would facilitate the speedy addition of new resources to the Philippines’s energy mix.”
“We need to redouble our efforts to explore and exploit new indigenous energy resources, such as the abundant natural gas reserve in Reed Bank. Continued economic growth will depend on ensuring that our domestic industries have access to cheap and reliable electricity,” said the senator.
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Gatchalian said he would also push for the immediate implementation of viable strategies to bring electricity prices down.
“Electricity is an integral part of contemporary Filipino life. Making reliable electricity more affordable will improve the lives of millions of Filipinos. We must work towards easing the burdens of our countrymen and countrywomen,” he said.
The senator likewise affirmed his commitment to improve the functionality of the Wholesale Electric Spot Market (WESM), explaining that the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) and the WESM possess the tools to closely monitor trends and market fluctuations in the energy generation sector for public benefit.
“PEMC and WESM can provide us with the information necessary to detect collusion and other forms of non-competitive behavior in the market. Their information can prove instrumental in protecting the interests of Filipino consumers,” he said.