19th Congress resumes, focuses on prices, power

INFLATION WOES A vendor readies her meat produce at a market in Quezon City. LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines — The 19th Congress of the Philippines resumes its second regular session today with the House of Representatives focusing on the prices of goods and the Senate looking into energy problems that are evoking memories of the 1990 power crisis.

The second regular session will last until May 24, a little less than a year before next year’s May 12 midterm elections, and the third and final session will start on July 22.

In a statement on Sunday, Speaker Martin Romualdez said that the House would be concentrating on its oversight functions on major issues, including the persistently high prices of goods, cybersecurity threats confronting government agencies and concerns on the West Philippine Sea.

The Speaker pointed out that the House has completed and approved all 20 priority measures identified by President Marcos and the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council.

READ: Romualdez: House approves all Ledac-priority bills before June target

But Romualdez expressed deep concern about the widening disparity between farm-gate and retail prices of essential goods, including rice.

The Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, a group of food producers and traders, earlier expressed alarm over the spike in retail prices, although the farm-gate prices of rice, poultry, pork and onions remained the same over three months.

Alarming disparities

According to the Speaker, “The discrepancy between farm-gate and retail prices of basic goods is alarming and warrants immediate attention. We cannot ignore the plight of our farmers who are struggling to make ends meet, nor can we turn a blind eye to the burden placed on consumers.”

He stressed, “It is imperative that we conduct a comprehensive review of our laws to ensure that they effectively safeguard the interests of our farmers and consumers. We must take proactive measures to prevent profiteering and promote a fair and transparent trading environment.”

Also on Sunday, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian pressed his proposal to probe the “suspicious” simultaneous breakdown of 47 power plants, which, he said, is a record-high in the country’s history.

In a radio interview, Gatchalian said the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) should fine generation companies (gencos) that have supposedly violated their reliability index with the breakdown of power plants.

Gatchalian said 47 power plants in the country failed and succumbed to “forced outages,” adding that a total of 21 hydroelectric power plants have also stopped working because of the weather.

The ERC said last week that it would come out with its preliminary findings today.

He said gencos should be held liable over unscheduled outages last week that resulted in unforeseen red and yellow alert incidents.

Legal accountability

“They have an accountability to maintain their plants. A lot of these issues could have been prevented, yet they happened. We need to hear answers, particularly from the Department of Energy,” Gatchalian said.

“Without these interventions, we will suffer from rotating brownouts due to higher temperatures and increased power demand,” he added.

The senator said rotating brownouts may hit Metro Manila and other areas if the national government fails to act on the power crisis, evoking memories of the 1990 power crisis under then President Corazon Aquino.

That crisis was not solved until Aquino’s successor, former President Fidel Ramos, was granted emergency powers to solve the problem.

At that time, Metro Manila and most of Luzon suffered eight to 10 hours of rotating power outages, even at the peak of the hot season, because of the government’s failure to ensure sufficient power for a booming economy.

“That’s possible,” Gatchalian said. “I am looking at these plants that failed as well as the hydropower plants that stopped working. If we don’t conduct cloud seeding or other interventions, we will really see rotating brownouts.”