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Winston Garcia, the president of the Government Service Insurance
System, is searching for the truth behind the high rates being
charged by power giant Meralco. Many are questioning his
motives—that he is waging a proxy war for the government against
the Lopezes, the dominant shareholders of Meralco who are also
owners of television giant ABS-CBN, one of the main thorns in media
of the Arroyo administration.
I am certain that many politicians would run to
the defense of Meralco to ingratiate themselves with the Lopezes.
Television is now acknowledged as more effective than newspapers
when it comes to election campaign. Broadcast, more than print, can
make or unmake a candidate. I do not find it surprising that the
fair-haired boys of ABS-CBN in politics are tripping over themselves
running to the rescue of Meralco by questioning the motives of
Garcia and glossing over his charges.
I don’t care for any ulterior motive of Garcia
as long as he succeeds in lowering Meralco rates. If he demonizes
the Lopezes in the process, well and good if they deserve it, which
remains to be seen. For certain, Meralco is no fair damsel in
distress. That is why I am looking with keen interest at the inquiry
by the Joint Congressional Power Commission (PowerCom) jointly
headed by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago and Pampanga Rep. Mikey
Arroyo.
From the initial data gathered at the PowerCom
hearing last Monday, I can say that Meralco has a lot of explaining
to do, and I am not referring to mere legalistic gobbledygook.
Meralco can hide behind the law but if the law is perceived to be
one-sided in its favor to the disadvantage of consumers, it will be
damned by the public.
For instance, under intense questioning by Sen.
Juan Ponce Enrile, lawyer Ireneo Acuna, Meralco assistant vice
president, admitted that the public is paying for the 72 million
kilowatthours that Meralco offices are consuming each year. Acuna
justified this, saying it was allowed under Republic Act 7832, the
law on pilferage and systems loss, which was enacted before the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001. Like JPE, legal
justification notwithstanding, I find this position of Meralco
unconscionable. Perhaps, had Meralco not billed itself for its own
power consumption, I could have lived with that. But billing its
power consumption amounting to P427.5 million to us poor consumers?
Is there social justice in this corporate giant?
I could have said that Meralco is merely trying
to earn more money, which is normal in a corporation. But then,
Garcia said that Meralco is not earning much compared to its sister
companies whose profits had almost doubled for supplying Meralco
with P55 billion worth of power, meters, distribution and power
transformers, ballasts, circuits and other electrical supplies each
year.
Garcia charged that Meralco had not paid any
cash dividends to its stockholders from 2001 to 2007 while its
sister-companies had almost doubled their incomes with their Meralco
contracts. No wonder, the Lopez patriarch, Oscar Lopez, immediately
made an about-face on his statement that the government can buy the
Lopezes out of Meralco if that was what it wanted. Well, with the
Lopez sister companies raking in billions of pesos from their deals
with Meralco, it is but understandable that he should take back his
word faster than lightning.
Consumers sure losers
I have no great love either for the state-owned
National Power Corp., whose debts are the main reason for the gaping
budgetary deficit we have been experiencing for the last several
years. Meralco and Napocor are blaming each other for the regime of
high power rates. Meralco claims that Napocor rates are higher than
Meralco’s three independent power producers. Not so, said Napocor,
which charged that Meralco was deliberately buying power from the
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market and not from its IPPs during peak
hours when the rates are high, to make its IPP rates appear lower
than those of Napocor.
I would applaud their going hammer and tongs
against each other if their war would lower power rates. However,
the two do not seem to look at us consumers with favor either. They
had filed claims and counter-claims against each other before the
Energy Regulatory Commission. And how did they propose to settle
these claims and counter-claims? By asking the ERC to allow them to
pass on these claims and counter-claims to us hapless consumers! I
almost cried when I heard this at the PowerCom inquiry. If ERC
approves this compromise agreement, then we should expect another
round of power rate increase.
Senate Minority Leader Nene Pimentel expressed
the sentiments of the much-abused consumers when he blurted out (I
would say he almost spat out the words) at the inquiry: “Profits
belong to the company but losses are shouldered by consumers!”
efrendanao2003@yahoo.com
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