National calamity: GMA, Meralco

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
8/6/2007



It is the people that need to take emergency powers to remove Gloria and not Gloria to ask for emergency powers for the “drought”. There is no “national” drought; regional drought may be true but if Gloria did any of her duties she would have long refurbished the water impounding projects in the Ilocos Region as Lucio Tan has done for Patpata 1 & 2, Quiling Norte and Abkir, Garab, Dadda and Lipit-Tomeeng to sustain tobacco farming. As in the drought, there is no power shortage; GMA is complicit in Meralco’s “power grab” raising P 1.25/kwh while it reported 20% increase in profits.

After our two week campaign with Nasecore, FDC, and media people like Anne Bernardino of DWWW, Bernie Lopez of Business World, Ricky Li of DWAD (and our own program) against Meralco and Albano’s P 1.25kwh “automatic cost recovery” Meralco and Gloria are in “damage control”, announcing through the captive headline of the Inquirer that Meralco is reducing its generation rate by 37.86 centavos/kwh and systems loss by 5.666764 centavos – which proves that they are overcharging the generation rate and more should be deducted.

Fending off the backlash Lopez spokesman Elpi Cuna has resorted to outright disinformation. Cuna’s infamous claim on radio that the Lopez IPPs Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo are lower than Napocor rates used their IPP non-peak versus NPC’s peak rates - misrepresenting apples for oranges the public could not distinguish without complete information. We should look at Meralco’s Average Generation Rate in the billings and compare them to Napocor’s effective selling rate. From 2003 to 2005 it shows the Meralco billing higher than Napocor selling rate by an average of P 1/kwh.

The only possible conclusion – Meralco’s IPPs bring up the average generation rate. They tried confusing the public with the off-peak and peak rate shell game; but that didn’t work, hence this damage control rate “consuelo de bobo”. In our next articles we will show that Meralco rates should be reduced by up to 50% to bring it in line with the average in Asian power rates. One issue is the “incremental cost of capital” Meralco uses to massively cheat 4.2-M captive consumers - constantly escalating equipment costs to inflate its capital investment that never increased at all.

To perpetualize this fraud Meralco induces top legislators, regulators and court judges to justify its system and jack up allowable profit from 5% decades ago to the present 15.4% - it’s really now 80% as we will soon show. A previous Meralco sequestration was due to Meralco’s accounting practice that swindles government and the public. The Lopezes contaminate everything, even religion: “donating” land to the Jesuits’ Ateneo (brainwash its students) paid for by Meralco consumers - the Ateneo, Rockwell law school and new Ateneo medical school land beside Medical City on Ortigas Ave.

The media too: ask Meralco director Christian Monsod’s wife at the Inquirer who’s so pro-Edsa Dos, that event that brought the IPP-PPA bonanza to the Lopezes. Ask 90% of radio and print commentarists who defend or keeping silent about Meralco abuses. On the courts, see the Philippine First Holdings Corporation website: “Former SC Chief Justice Panganiban as new director Mr. Angel Ong has resigned.” Readers may ask what’s wrong with this? I suggest - go to the December 2006 newspaper items about a certain “midnight decision” at the Supreme Court.

Every discussion on electricity rates threatens to drown the layman in a sea of confusing figures, rule and regulation. The public must ask Gloria, her legislators, regulators and business cohorts the simplest question: “Wwhy is the Philippines’ power rates the highest in Asia since afer Edsa Dos until today, and getting worse. What are you doing to bring the Philippines’ power rates to the reasonable and average rate prevalent in Asia – to keep our industries and our standard of living competitive and comparable to the rest?”

It is not the Filipino people obligation, nor electricity consumers, to suffer for the benefit of Gloria and the power companies. Gloria’s SONA obviously recognizes the electric power rates problem as a major one, thus she spoke of “amending” the EPIRA’s on “open access”– but treating it as a legislative issue is intended to exhaust the last two minutes with a long dribble. It will just allow continuation of Meralco and its stockholders 4,000% earnings in fifteen years using only its consumers’ monthly payments – blood, sweat and tears - for exorbitant power rates.

In 2001 the Lopezes, with other oligarchs, launched Gloria’s coup against an elected president. Seven years of socio-economic-political calamity followed as privatization concentrated political power in the profit-seeking elite. Gloria, the Lopezes and Meralco are emblematic of the sources of our nationa’s seven years of calamity since Edsa Dos: systematic abuse of our people for unappeasable, insatiable, ravenous, criminal profit at the people’s expense. Our solution? Emergency “people power” through a consumers’ cooperative, returning control of Meralco to the people.

No more Gloria, EPIRA and Meralco’s con games. No Meralco, ABS-CBN and Makati Business Club controlled politicians. An electricity consumers’ cooperative would democratize the country! A biblical seven years of people-oriented progress will when a revolutionary idea and leadership replaces the present system – that’s why the people gave Trillanes’ movement a victory – and why Solita Monsod’s August 3 column’s vehement anti-Trillanes vituperations.

(Tune in to 1098AM, M-W-F, 6-7pm)