(Legacy of Cory Aquino and Fidel Ramos) The last time the country experienced power crisis in the 1990s was during the last two years in office of P-Noy’s late mother, former President Corazon Aquino. When former President Fidel V. Ramos took office at Malacañang in June 1992, he had to contend with the crippling blackouts all over the country. Pushing the economy to the status of newly industrialized country, the Ramos administration was stalled by debilitating blackouts that cut down production and so much downtime in economic activities. Mr. Ramos was able to convince Congress to grant him emergency powers limited to one year within which, among other things, to secure contracts to build new base-load power plants. To entice private sector investors to put up such costly power plants, the Ramos administration provided for sovereign guarantee for loans contracted. It also allowed IPPs a guaranteed return on investment through a “take-for-pay” provision on their contracts. In the end, we, electricity consumers had to bite the bullet. And we are still absorbing the “take-for-pay” provision of these IPP contracts. We continue to pay in our monthly bills any electricity supply even if we do not use it. To ensure the continued profitability of these IPPs, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) prohibits the government from constructing power plants. That’s why the Philippines has the highest power rate in this part of the world. Sadly, the present administration obviously has not learned any better. Excerpts from a Philippine Star newspaper column. COMMONSENSE By Marichu A. Villanueva
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:37:34 +0000
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