Congress to reconcile Aquino emergency powers reso

MANILA, Philippines – Congress is set to meet on March 2 in a bicameral conference to reconcile its versions of the resolutions granting President Aquino emergency powers to address the looming power shortage during the summer this year.

In a press conference Tuesday, Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali, who chairs the House energy committee, said he has received notice from Senator Serge Osmeña, who chairs the Senate energy panel, about the March 2 bicameral conference.

He said both houses of Congress plan to reconcile its versions for passage on March 4. Senate has yet to approve its version two months after the House approved its counterpart bill December last year.

Umali said he would insist on the passage of their version of the bill, which he said allows more “elbow room” for Aquino to address the shortage.

In the Senate version, the consumers would shoulder the P0.32 per kilowatt-hour to cover maintenance costs for generators. The House version, meanwhile, said the costs will be sourced from the Malampaya fund and that the expenses of the private generators will be reimbursed.

According to the resolution, “additional generating capacity shall be sourced from the Interruptible Load Program (ILP), fast tracking of committed projects, and plants for interconnection and rehabilitation.”

The ILP is seen by the House energy committee as the solution to the anticipated power shortage supposedly due to the looming El Niño phenomenon, the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya power plan, increased or continuing outages of power plants, and the delay in commissioning of committed power projects.

Under the ILP, big industrial and commercial customers who have the ability to produce their own electricity through generating sets should cut off or reduce their supplied electricity, particularly during peak periods of the day, and instead use their own generator sets.

Once both Houses reconciled their versions, both chambers will ratify the bill before it is sent to the President for signing into law.