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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
The Senate is scrambling to pass priority
measures in its last two session days before the first regular
session adjourns this Wednesday.
Sen. Edgardo Angara said the Senate could show
its sense of urgency by passing the bills amending the Electric
Power Industry Act (Epira) and the enhancement of the Renewable
Energy Bill.
He said the amendment of Epira has been pending
since the 13th Congress and that its passage has been rendered more
urgent by the continuing hike in power rates.
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, author and sponsor of
the Epira amendmentbill, said that one of the main features of the
measure prohibits the passing of stranded costs of power to
consumers. “Stranded costs” is the difference between the
contracted cost of electricity and the actual selling price of the
contracted energy output in the market.
Angara said that the Renewable Energy Act will
strengthen the Philippine energy plan for the exploration,
development and utilization of new and renewable energy systems
using indigenous resources.
“Aside from geothermal energy where we are the
second biggest producer in the world, we can go into solar, hydro
and wind energy. These are already proven technologies,” he said.
Angara is one of the sponsors of the Renewable
Energy Act along with Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago, Pia
Cayetano, Loren Legarda and Manuel Roxas 2nd.
CARP bill must wait
He is also confident that the bicameral
conference committee could report out the reconciled version of the
Personal Equity Retirement Account (PERA), which would benefit
nonmembers of the Social Security System and the Government Service
Insurance System.
The Senate, however, can no longer tackle the
bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for
lack of time. The CARP ends today.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Francis
Pangilinan reported that the Senate passed on second reading last
week the proposed Pre-Need Code (Senate Bill 2077) which seeks to
provide better protection for plan holders, and the Tourism Act
(Senate Bill 2213) aimed at strengthening and promoting our
country’s tourism sector.
“These laws and bills are one of the manners
by which we extend our collective effort to improve our country,”
he said.
The Pre-Need Code Bill is a consolidation of
measures authored by Roxas and Legarda. It provides safeguards for
plan holders to prevent the occurrence of a similar failure of
pre-need companies to meet their obligations.
Among the pending bills on the floor are the
Socialized Housing Restructuring Program, the Cooperative Code and
the Right of Reply. The Senate will start floor debates this Tuesday
on the Anti-Child Pornography Act sponsored by Sen. Jamby Madrigal.
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