|
Labor union lauds ‘Crusader’ Garcia
On his July 2 column, Mr. Dan Mariano raised two points against the
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) chief Winston Garcia
being named by the Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. as
its “Crusader of the Year” for fighting to bring down the Manila
Electric Co.’s (Meralco’s) power rates—one of the highest, if
not the highest, in the world.
Mr. Dan Mariano said the word “crusader” is
antagonistic to Muslims being a reminder of the bloody
Christian-Muslim wars known as the Crusades. Mr. Mariano also
attributed ulterior motives to Mr. Garcia’s actions, like his
alleged intention to run for the Senate.
However, Mr. Mariano’s reference to the word
“crusader” is already passé as its primary meaning in this age
of the wireless Internet and in most dictionaries is “one who
advocates reforms.”
Surely, both Christians and Muslims, and
everyone else being overcharged by Meralco by as much as three pesos
per kilowatt hour, will benefit from a successful Garcia campaign
against the abuses of the Lopezes in the power distribution utility.
If Mr. Garcia wants to run for senator is it prudent for him to
fight the Lopezes who own ABS-CBN like what some of our politicians
are wont to do?
Even if couched in a claimed grapevine joke,
Mr. Mariano cannot say that Garcia’s real intention was to depress
the price of Meralco shares, so that a Cebu-based securities can
allegedly gobble them up at a bargain.
First off, most other shares and not only
Meralco’s stocks are tumbling down here in the Philippines and
elsewhere in the world. The high prices of crude oil, the US
sub-prime fiasco and the uncertainties of the future and are
primarily to blame for the market downturn.
And if Meralco’s value had taken an
additional beating because of Garcia’s exposure of its sweetheart
deals with other Lopez companies, it was to be expected since
investors’ appetite is naturally depressed by corporate
shenanigans like what we’re seeing in Meralco.
The indisputable facts are that:
1) Lopez-controlled Meralco overcharges its 4.4
million customers by 20 percent to 30 percent compared with other
distributors; 2) Meralco buys expensive power from Lopez IPPs on top
of the P20 billion paid to them each year as undeserved “capacity
fees;” 3) Meralco sources transformers, meters, cables, posts and
services at an overprice from Lopez companies; 4) Meralco charges
customers half a billion pesos each year for electricity Meralco
itself uses in its offices; 5) Meralco buys the loyalty of its
employees by passing on to customers the cost of Meralco’s pension
plan (P2.7 billion in 2007); 6) Meralco passed on to its customers
P30 billion of its income tax from 1994 to 2002; and 7) that Meralco
increased its rates in 2004 illegally.
Mr. Mariano is a friend of labor and he has
supported many of our advocacies in the past. It is unfortunate that
this time we take different views on a rather simple public issue.
I’d like to ask Mr. Mariano if we, the public, would have known of
these malpractices by the Lopezes in Meralco if Mr. Garcia did not
go on a warpath against this family whose members think they are
above the law?
Now, as to Mr. Mariano’s claim about Mr.
Garcia’s silence on the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars, I
ask him if the GSIS has any investment in Sulpicio Lines which would
necessitate Garcia’s action?
None. If Garcia speaks out on MV Princess of
the Stars, for or against Sulpicio Lines, he’ll be damned both
ways for grandstanding, allegedly in aid of being elected a
senator, as what Mr. Mariano had insinuated.
Between Meralco’s high power rates under the
Lopezes and Garcia’s avowal to bring down Meralco’s charges by
up to 30 percent, the National Labor Union and its affiliate labor
and urban poor organizations naturally support the GSIS crusade to
bring about transparency and simple honesty in the operations of
Meralco. GSIS funds after all, come from the contributions of
government workers.
Mr. Mariano should not complicate the Meralco
issue with discussions on religious wars and whatnot. The issue is
very simple really: That Meralco is violating its franchise and the
Epira provision for power distributors to provide electricity to its
captive market at the least cost to them.
|
