United Opposition president and Makati Mayor
Jejomar Binay said the apparent "power play squeeze" being
applied against the Lopez family which owns Meralco was another
ploy of Malacañang to blame the private sector for her
administration’s obvious failure to implement the necessary
reforms in the power sector and keep the cost of electricity
down.
"Instead of properly identifying the National
Power Corporation as the obvious culprit, President Arroyo
deviously deflects blame to Meralco and the Lopez family," Binay
added. "She is being in character."
Binay said Malacañang was wrong when it
blamed Meralco for the high costs of electricity.
"The Meralco rates are lower than those
quoted by Napocor as can be seen in Wholesale Electricity Spot
Market Overview (WESM) figures and the Meralco reports to the
Energy Regulatory Commission," Binay said.
Binay said Meralco merely passes on to the
consumer the charges imposed by state-owned Napocor which still
controls 70 percent of all power generation in the country.
Binay said the timing of the President’s
tirade against Meralco was "suspect" and "could very well be
part of a pattern of harassment against GMA’s perceived enemies"
given the critical stance taken by Lopez-owned ABS-CBN against
government on the issue of media restriction.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Arroyo should focus
on backing pending bills seeking to amend the Epira law rather
than engaging the Lopez family in a proxy fight to force Meralco
to slash its rates.
Lacson questioned Malacañang’s real motives
in taking over the country’s most coveted utility. Should the
President fail to get a loyal ally to succeed her in 2010,
Lacson said that getting control of utility firms such as power
and water would give a "private citizen" tremendous power.
SCRAP VAT ON POWER, OIL
Sen. Francis Escudero urged the government to
scrap the value-added tax (VAT) on power and oil.
Escudero said the VAT on systems loss partly
explains the high cost of power in the country.
"It is bad enough that we pay for electricity
that is lost to illegal connections and to theft, but coughing
up an additional 12 percent tax for phantom power is too much,"
he said.
Escudero, chair of the ways and means
committee, said VAT is meant to be a levy on goods and services,
"on tangibles one receives and enjoys, not on imaginary things
like electricity which has vaporized or vandalized."
Sen. Mar Roxas said the suspension of the VAT
on oil is "becoming more and more evident" with the rise in
world oil prices.
"The triple whammy of higher oil, food, and
energy prices requires a more responsive and decisive
government," he said.
QUICK SOLUTIONS
Speaker Prospero Nograles ordered Pampanga
Rep. Mikey Arroyo to convene the committee on energy to find a
quick and effective solution to the increasing cost of electric
power.
"His (Mikey’s) committee can also make
recommendations that don’t require an act of Congress and submit
these to the President," Nograles said.
Arroyo, who has just returned from the United
States, said his committee is set to convene this week to resume
deliberations on the pending measures.
These measures include the proposal to amend
the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) to accelerate the
implementation of retail competition; open access in the
electric power industry; the renewable energy resources bill;
and the proposal to develop a downstream natural gas industry.
Only the Epira amendment has been submitted
to the plenary.
It is expected to be approved on third reading before
Congress adjourns sine die on June 13. – Regina Bengco, JP
Lopez and Wendell Vigilia
