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The Senate must proceed with the amendment of the Electric Power
Industry Reform Act (Epira) even if the House is no longer
interested in the endeavor, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino
“Nene” Pimentel Jr. said Thursday.
He told the weekly Kapihan sa Senado that the
Senate had already received the manifestation from the House
Committee on Energy headed by Rep. Mikey Arroyo of Pampanga that
they are no longer interested in amending the Epira.
“The Epira must be amended. Sen. Juan Ponce
Enrile sees the need to do so. For us in the opposition, Epira must
be amended, especially the provision on systems loss. It is not fair
that what was stolen by Juan should be paid by Pedro,” he said.
Rep. Arroyo said the House decided to shelve the
bill amending Epira because the industry players had already agreed
to accelerate the implementation of open access, thus rendering the
proposed revisions to the Epira moot and academic.
Open access refers to the condition where power
users can choose their power suppliers. It is supposed to take place
when the National Power Corp. (Napocor) had already privatized 80
percent of its assets.
The House position is a virtual acknowledgment
of the opposition aired by the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce
that amending Epira would be a disincentive to foreign investments.
They had written a letter to President Gloria Arroyo expressing
their opposition to Epira amendments, drawing the ire of senators
who called them to a hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy
headed by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Enrile said that contrary to the fears of the
joint foreign chambers, any amendment of the Epira would not affect
existing contracts, including the much-criticized take-or-pay
provisions in contracts awarded to independent power producers.
Sen. Joker Arroyo, who had voted against Epira,
said the law must be amended because its twin objectives to reduce
the indebtedness of Napocor and reduce power rates have not been
achieved after seven years.
-- Efren L. Danao
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