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I believe Gov. Joey Salceda of Albay when he said the other day that
government is not interested in taking management control of the
Manila Electric Compay. If the government gives the impression it
was getting Meralco, the noble intention of lowering the rates of
electricity for the sake of the consumers will be defeated.
It must be the Meralco people who are creating
the story that the government wants to take over the electric giant.
By dishing out this line of imminent takeover, Meralco creates a
scarecrow, and hits that crow to isolate an imagined confiscatory
regime. When the media debate goes to confiscation, the noble
intention of checking the abuses of Meralco becomes a nonissue.
Notice that even the usually perceptive Sen. Joker Arroyo was
deceived by the line that government was bent on ousting the Lopez
family from the Meralco!
For the sake of the public interest, let the
debate remain in the realm of valid public issues, like overcharging
of consumers by Meralco, about hidden costs and accounting fraud, of
bad practices like buying electricity from its allied firms and lack
of transparency in its records. As to the aim of GSIS to consolidate
its own shares in the firm, let them do that because that is their
legal right. But confiscation of Meralco is not part of the
polemics.
I think that confiscating Meralco is not part of
the ideology of President Arroyo. The President is an economist who
believes in free trade. Has she not said that full privatization of
the Philippine economy is one of her declared legacies? Do you know
what nationalists are saying about the President?
She has been charged of selling many state
enterprises and heirlooms to the private sector as part of her
commitment to the international community. She has even received
flak for selling the PNOC-EDC which, by the way went to the Lopezes.
How can she possibly seize Meralco?
Politics and billiards
The billiards community is caught in a
controversy over the decision by Senate President Manny Villar to
support a breakaway group in a tournament to be held in Alabang. It
is possible that Villar does not know the implications of this
issue, but I have heard friends talk about the lack of his
sensitivity to a delicate problem in one organization.
They said that by holding another billiard
tournament on the same dates, (May 6 to 11) he may have unwittingly
sabotaged a legitimate billiard organization sanctioned by the
Philippine Olympic Committee and the League of Cities. Perhaps, he
may not be aware that his own Villar’s Cup comes into conflict
with the tournament sponsored by the Billiards and Snookers Congress
of the Philippines.
I do not know how this can be repaired at this
time when the tournaments have started. But this is a lesson for
Villar who should make the correct decisions at this time when he is
trying to gain the affection of the voters. If I were Villar, I
would readily choose the legitimate groups when sponsoring
tournaments.
Nograles-Misuari talk
It looks like the move to convene a constituent
assembly to amend the charter and create a federal state is gaining
ground. Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari and
Speaker Prospero Nograles talked about federalism the other day in
Quezon City.
Misuari is happy that Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
is sponsoring a charter change proposal in the Senate. Nograles has
also instructed the House to conduct studies on the proposal and
will embark on consultations. There is no official reaction from the
Palace yet.
The new element in this charter change
initiative is the support by Pimentel and some members of the
Senate. Previously, the Senate was united in opposing the charter,
partly because it included the abolition of the Senate. Now, the
issue is simply federalism.
jules42na@yahoo.com
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