CONSUMERS DEMAND!
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/17-19/2011
While Filipinos are now conducting sporadic protests on the power price gouging issue, as various groups did with the FDC (Freedom from Debt Coalition) Oct. 11 “Lights Out” campaign, and with others planning for more major moves such as the “Occupy Malacañang Freedom Park” vigil, in the US, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, as reported by PressTV, has already spread its “tent cities” to at least 1,400 events all across that country.
While OWS still has to consolidate around a central issue and leadership, the diverse targets of protesters have one thing in common, which we in the country also share: The disgust over and rage against the prevailing political-economic system of greed and corruption, as well as a mainstream media that protects the interests of the aristocracy of money.
Financial & Political Clout
The targets in the US are pretty clear: The Federal Reserve, Wall Street, and its finance capitalists, and the bankrupt Republican-Democratic political system.
Those targets have, in fact, really a lot more in common with the issues that we Filipinos are bedeviled with in the past 25 years since the so-called EDSA I “revolution.”
Let’s fast forward to one current major issue in the Philippines: The MRT subsidy and fare hike, which few people realize involve the machination of Goldman Sachs which bought out the original “investors,” the Ayalas, Sobrepeñas, and Agustines, and used its financial and political clout to browbeat the Philippine government into buying it out in turn with an instant 15-percent profit, depositing the debts with the Philippine government again.
Flashing back 10 years to EDSA II, we have the World Bank-ADB pressure for the approval of the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act) in exchange for a $300-million loan to Gloria Arroyo’s fledgling usurper government that led to our “highest power rates in Asia” today.
Meanwhile, another 15 years back, we remember the US-AIG-installed Cory Aquino initiating the massive transfer of state assets to the local oligarchy.
1-2-3 Schemes
The economic deconstruction of the US today that spurred the spreading joblessness and economic hopelessness there was inflicted 25 years earlier in the Philippines by the Western finance capitalists who manipulate the global monetary and credit system.
Their thrust -- to enrich the wealthy through financial plunder of the real economy -- is carried out through exotic financial formulations such a “derivatives,” “credit default swaps,” “commodities (including energy) futures,” “secondary and tertiary mortgages,” ad nausea, which are essentially giant Ponzi or one-two-three schemes.
In the Philippines, we have seen many sectors taken over by local oligarchs’ one-two-three schemes (in cahoots with corrupt politicians): The 90-percent privatization of Napocor (National Power Corp.) assets that left its original debt of $17 billion unchanged after 10 years; the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) auctions run by power companies themselves that jack up power rates by up to 600 percent, and many others.
Those one-two-three schemes in the power sector fleeced the nation of $10 billion, of which the biggest beneficiaries were US companies like Mirant which then sold out to a Japanese consortium led by Marubeni, complicating any effort to pursue Mirant in the future.
Changed Hands 4x
The same scheme also took over the expressways funded by public money during the time of Marcos.
Upon privatization, toll fees were raised exponentially despite only a minimal expansion of the roads.
Then, ownership changed several times over to convolute any effort to pinpoint the culprits for the abuse and exploitation of commuters.
The South Expressway, for instance, has changed hands four times -- the last to the largest dummy in the world who’s been the channel of worthless US dollars from Obama’s “quantitative easing” to convert into valuable real assets in the Philippines.
Now certain corrupts in the Philippine Congress want to convene a “bicam con-ass” to convert more depreciating dollars to real estate assets in behalf of US, Korean, Chinese, and other foreign interests?
What scums!
All the Rage
Unless we put a stop to their designs, the world’s financial capitalists will be occupying the entire Philippines--completely -- from our electricity, roads, and water, to every nook and cranny of our lands and our lives.
Yet all the rage of the peoples of the Philippines and of the world will come to naught if the central issue is not threshed out.
Even now, OWS is struggling to find its unified identity and goal for even the US oligarchs such as George Soros, Warren Buffet; conservatives and progressives; the Tea Party; socialists, and the pro- and anti-Obama et al. are prodding their own factions to lead the OWS in whatever direction.
If OWS as a movement does not manage to find its bearings, then it will be doomed to go the tragic way of the Arab Spring, where a counter-revolution in Egypt may already be in full swing.
Similarly, with several major streams of genuine opposition groups rallying against the oligarchic and exploitative system, the same may be true in the Philippines.
The Greatest Saboteur
One major stumbling block -- the “tactical collaboration” between potentially genuine change agents and elements of the Establishment -- has consistently been the greatest saboteur of a unified ideological movement.
The “tactical collaboration” of, say, Akbayan with the Yellow traditional elite-aristocracy is admittedly a major distraction to the consolidation of forces against the neocolonial oligarchic system for it lends an “activist” aura to the otherwise corrupt and aristocratic (cacique) character of the powers-that-be.
It merely postpones the crystallization of the focus of genuine systemic change, which, in the case of the power sector, we advanced as the “cooperativization” of the nation’s vital industries.
Still and all, the message of the demonstrators worldwide is this: The people are sick and tired of the way things are. They now want to take back control over their economies, basic utilities (including money), and lives.
After all, they’ve worked hard for all of it with their blood, sweat and tears.
Power of Alternative Media
From these movements, the shepherds or leaders who can make these ideas mainstream will soon arise.
It is only through the power of alternative media that the people (most especially, the masses) can discern true leadership that represents the values of human love and sharing.
It is only through our efforts that people will be eschewed from the love of hedonist gimmickry by shunning such commercialized idols as Buffet or Steve Jobs, and instead embrace revolutionaries like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Gautama Buddha, and the socialist builders of Singapore and China’s socialist-market system, where the nation and the public count for more than the moneyed few.
People of the Earth, Occupy the World!
Let’s do our share; let’s OCCUPY MALACAÑANG FREEDOM PARK!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Monday, October 17, 2011
Politics is (Un)Fair to those who Pretend to be Good
YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
Linggoy Alcuaz
10/17-19/2011
If Politics is Unfair to the Good, is it then Fair to those Who pretend to be Good? This is my take on the Ronald Llamas brouhaha. More than a year ago, I wrote a column entitled, “In politics, it’s harder for the good boys.” May I quote a couple of paragraphs from that column:
“There is an inherent injustice in politics. When you are a good boy, your campaign is a crusade. Your basic colour is white. When you win and come to power, a lot is expected from you. When you commit a mistake, it is like mud being thrown at you. Black stands out against a white background.
“When you are a bad boy, your campaign is “bola bola”. Your basic colour is black. When you win and come to power, little is expected from you. When you commit a mistake, it is not noticed. It is like black paint being painted on a black background. No matter how much black paint or mud is thrown at you, your appearance does not change.”
I arrived at the above conclusions based on my almost six decades of observing and participating in Philippine and World Politics. I was then referring to the likes of Raul S. Manglapus, Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Cory C. Aquino, Joey Lina, Jun Simon and Noynoy Aquino.
My vantage points for my observing politics and my points of entry for participating in politics were:
1. From 1953 – 1972, under the 1935 Constitution with its Two Party Presidential Form of Government, the Third Force or Reformist Block.;
2. From 1972 – 1986, under Martial Law and Marcos’s 1973 Constitution, the Opposition against Marcos and Martial Law with Ninoy Aquino, Raul Manglapus, Nene Pimentel, Jose W. Diokno and Lorenzo Tanada as leaders;
3. From 1986 – 1989 and again from 2001 – 2004, under the 1987 Cory Constitution with its Multiparty but still Presidential Form of Government, after both EDSA’s I and II, as an official in the Aquino and GMA Administrations;
4. From 1989 – 2001 and 2004 – 2011, outside of the incumbent Administration, majority of the time in the Opposition and aligned with Popular Political Leaders like Miriam, Erap, GMA, FPJ, Erap, Noynoy and Erap again.
Although the term “Third Force” was popular in the fifties and the sixties, it fell into disuse during the Martial Law years. It evolved out of the thesis propounded by Manglapus and other reformists that under the two party system, both the Liberal and Nacionalista Parties were the same dog with just different collars or colours.
They did not have real and distinct programs of government. They were both for the socio-economic elite and the status quo. They contested elections for the sake of political power for their own interests. Thus, real change and reform could only come from a “Third Force” that was outside the incestuous Two Party System.
The only problem was that the Two Party System gave the two major parties the advantage of having party inspectors paid by the government in the election precincts. Without its own official inspectors, only party watchers, the third force parties could not win in the 1957, 1959 and 1965 elections.
They only won when they coalesced with the Liberal Party under the United Opposition Party in the 1961 national elections. While the LP’s Macapagal won the Presidency, the PPP/Grand Alliance’s Emmanuel Pelaez won the Vice Presidency. Manglapus and Manuel Manahan won the first two slots for Senator. The alliance with Macapagal and the LP did not last.
Martial Law changed the rules and the balance of political power. The LP was decimated. If they and the Reformists did their fighting against Martial Law and Marcos separately, they did not stand a chance of ever winning. And so Reformists and out of power Tradpols united as the anti-Marcos Opposition.
Martial Law encouraged the Left as well as other non-political activists to grow relative to the political opposition. Martial Law and the long absence of elections caused the LP as well as other politicians to whither. It came to a point when the LP and later Political Organizations composed of former politicians could not make an impact without the cooperation of the non-political organizations and movements.
It is at this point that the term “Cause Oriented” became popular. The assassination of Ninoy at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983 gave both the cause oriented movements and the opposition parties the opportunity to grow rapidly.
Relative to the Radical Left, which knew how to survive and grow under any circumstances, the so called Democratic Left or Left of Center was perhaps the most benefitted by the death of Ninoy. The revolutionary assumption to power of Cory brought in the most fresh blood into government. These were the Cause Oriented, who once in power so very quickly earned the perception of turning into the Cost Oriented.
Except for Cory herself and a few officials who quickly bowed out of government service, the multitudes of cause oriented reformers became the latest generation of corrupt bureaucrats and traditional politicians.
Cory showed her preference for Non Government Organizations (NGO’s) over political parties. By the end of her term, “Cause Oriented” fell into disuse. The fad of the day was the NGO. Eventually, every Tom, Dick and Harry had an NGO. Up to today, the NGO is still in vogue.
However, in the nineties a new term was imported from abroad – “Civil Society.” At the same time the provisions of the 1987 Constitution regarding representation of marginalized sectors of society was implemented. In the interim, the President could appoint fifty Sectoral Representatives. Eventually, voters at large voted for a Sectoral Party. In turn, its nominee (s) became a Party List Congressman.
PAPA Ronald Llamas belonged to and grew up politically in this world. He belonged to Akbayan, a registered and successful Sectoral Party under our Party List System. Akbayan and its leaders had come out of both the Radical and Moderate Activists of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. To some extent they are a product of the split of the CPP/NPA/NDF into RA and RJ factions. However, they do have a lot of leaders and members who have never been members of the Radical Left.
They were based on the NGO/Civil Society fad of the nineties and had mastered the art of securing foreign funding for various causes. They were anti-trapo. They were loud about their advocacies. Their leaders and party list representatives were high profile including Eta Rosales, Riza Hontiveros and Walden Bello.
Riza ran in Noynoy’s LP Senate Slate and lost as the 13th candidate. Eta was appointed as the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights. Ronald Llamas was an early appointee of the usually slow P Noy as the Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs. Like his boss, he is a gun enthusiast and a “Kabarilan.”
A few months ago, Llamas' name cropped up as one of three pet peeves of P Noy. The other two were Secretaries Leila de Lima and Bertie Lim. Soon after, Secretary Lim resigned. Up to now, a year and a quarter after being appointed Secretary of a very important Department, de Lima’s nomination has not been submitted to the Commission on Appointments.
A couple of weeks ago Llamas' Mitsubishi Montero Sport SUV with a #6 government plate figured in an accident in Q.C. Although Llamas was not aboard, his high powered AK-47 Russian Assault Rifle was under the driver’s seat. While the police were still investigating and under the glare of television cameras, his subordinates spirited away the AK-47 without clearing with the police.
Llamas is the do-gooder now done bad. The media pounced on Llamas without let up for more than a week. That is what we mean by “Politics is Unfair to the Good.” Or can it also be that Politics is Fair to those who Pretend to be Good?
Linggoy Alcuaz
10/17-19/2011
If Politics is Unfair to the Good, is it then Fair to those Who pretend to be Good? This is my take on the Ronald Llamas brouhaha. More than a year ago, I wrote a column entitled, “In politics, it’s harder for the good boys.” May I quote a couple of paragraphs from that column:
“There is an inherent injustice in politics. When you are a good boy, your campaign is a crusade. Your basic colour is white. When you win and come to power, a lot is expected from you. When you commit a mistake, it is like mud being thrown at you. Black stands out against a white background.
“When you are a bad boy, your campaign is “bola bola”. Your basic colour is black. When you win and come to power, little is expected from you. When you commit a mistake, it is not noticed. It is like black paint being painted on a black background. No matter how much black paint or mud is thrown at you, your appearance does not change.”
I arrived at the above conclusions based on my almost six decades of observing and participating in Philippine and World Politics. I was then referring to the likes of Raul S. Manglapus, Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Cory C. Aquino, Joey Lina, Jun Simon and Noynoy Aquino.
My vantage points for my observing politics and my points of entry for participating in politics were:
1. From 1953 – 1972, under the 1935 Constitution with its Two Party Presidential Form of Government, the Third Force or Reformist Block.;
2. From 1972 – 1986, under Martial Law and Marcos’s 1973 Constitution, the Opposition against Marcos and Martial Law with Ninoy Aquino, Raul Manglapus, Nene Pimentel, Jose W. Diokno and Lorenzo Tanada as leaders;
3. From 1986 – 1989 and again from 2001 – 2004, under the 1987 Cory Constitution with its Multiparty but still Presidential Form of Government, after both EDSA’s I and II, as an official in the Aquino and GMA Administrations;
4. From 1989 – 2001 and 2004 – 2011, outside of the incumbent Administration, majority of the time in the Opposition and aligned with Popular Political Leaders like Miriam, Erap, GMA, FPJ, Erap, Noynoy and Erap again.
Although the term “Third Force” was popular in the fifties and the sixties, it fell into disuse during the Martial Law years. It evolved out of the thesis propounded by Manglapus and other reformists that under the two party system, both the Liberal and Nacionalista Parties were the same dog with just different collars or colours.
They did not have real and distinct programs of government. They were both for the socio-economic elite and the status quo. They contested elections for the sake of political power for their own interests. Thus, real change and reform could only come from a “Third Force” that was outside the incestuous Two Party System.
The only problem was that the Two Party System gave the two major parties the advantage of having party inspectors paid by the government in the election precincts. Without its own official inspectors, only party watchers, the third force parties could not win in the 1957, 1959 and 1965 elections.
They only won when they coalesced with the Liberal Party under the United Opposition Party in the 1961 national elections. While the LP’s Macapagal won the Presidency, the PPP/Grand Alliance’s Emmanuel Pelaez won the Vice Presidency. Manglapus and Manuel Manahan won the first two slots for Senator. The alliance with Macapagal and the LP did not last.
Martial Law changed the rules and the balance of political power. The LP was decimated. If they and the Reformists did their fighting against Martial Law and Marcos separately, they did not stand a chance of ever winning. And so Reformists and out of power Tradpols united as the anti-Marcos Opposition.
Martial Law encouraged the Left as well as other non-political activists to grow relative to the political opposition. Martial Law and the long absence of elections caused the LP as well as other politicians to whither. It came to a point when the LP and later Political Organizations composed of former politicians could not make an impact without the cooperation of the non-political organizations and movements.
It is at this point that the term “Cause Oriented” became popular. The assassination of Ninoy at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983 gave both the cause oriented movements and the opposition parties the opportunity to grow rapidly.
Relative to the Radical Left, which knew how to survive and grow under any circumstances, the so called Democratic Left or Left of Center was perhaps the most benefitted by the death of Ninoy. The revolutionary assumption to power of Cory brought in the most fresh blood into government. These were the Cause Oriented, who once in power so very quickly earned the perception of turning into the Cost Oriented.
Except for Cory herself and a few officials who quickly bowed out of government service, the multitudes of cause oriented reformers became the latest generation of corrupt bureaucrats and traditional politicians.
Cory showed her preference for Non Government Organizations (NGO’s) over political parties. By the end of her term, “Cause Oriented” fell into disuse. The fad of the day was the NGO. Eventually, every Tom, Dick and Harry had an NGO. Up to today, the NGO is still in vogue.
However, in the nineties a new term was imported from abroad – “Civil Society.” At the same time the provisions of the 1987 Constitution regarding representation of marginalized sectors of society was implemented. In the interim, the President could appoint fifty Sectoral Representatives. Eventually, voters at large voted for a Sectoral Party. In turn, its nominee (s) became a Party List Congressman.
PAPA Ronald Llamas belonged to and grew up politically in this world. He belonged to Akbayan, a registered and successful Sectoral Party under our Party List System. Akbayan and its leaders had come out of both the Radical and Moderate Activists of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. To some extent they are a product of the split of the CPP/NPA/NDF into RA and RJ factions. However, they do have a lot of leaders and members who have never been members of the Radical Left.
They were based on the NGO/Civil Society fad of the nineties and had mastered the art of securing foreign funding for various causes. They were anti-trapo. They were loud about their advocacies. Their leaders and party list representatives were high profile including Eta Rosales, Riza Hontiveros and Walden Bello.
Riza ran in Noynoy’s LP Senate Slate and lost as the 13th candidate. Eta was appointed as the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights. Ronald Llamas was an early appointee of the usually slow P Noy as the Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs. Like his boss, he is a gun enthusiast and a “Kabarilan.”
A few months ago, Llamas' name cropped up as one of three pet peeves of P Noy. The other two were Secretaries Leila de Lima and Bertie Lim. Soon after, Secretary Lim resigned. Up to now, a year and a quarter after being appointed Secretary of a very important Department, de Lima’s nomination has not been submitted to the Commission on Appointments.
A couple of weeks ago Llamas' Mitsubishi Montero Sport SUV with a #6 government plate figured in an accident in Q.C. Although Llamas was not aboard, his high powered AK-47 Russian Assault Rifle was under the driver’s seat. While the police were still investigating and under the glare of television cameras, his subordinates spirited away the AK-47 without clearing with the police.
Llamas is the do-gooder now done bad. The media pounced on Llamas without let up for more than a week. That is what we mean by “Politics is Unfair to the Good.” Or can it also be that Politics is Fair to those who Pretend to be Good?
Notable idea, notable lie
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/17/2011
Late last week, two items in the news got my attention — one, a notable idea; the other, a notable lie. The first came from Vice President Jejomar Binay. In a recent meeting with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), he urged the national government to utilize its $75-billion gross international reserves to finance development programs as well as to make it available to local borrowers. This certainly echoes what we have been pushing for the past few months.
The other piece of news (which got my goat this time) came from the doyen of the ruling elite’s favored economists. In an interview with GMA News last Oct. 13, former Neda (National Economic Development Authority) chief Solita Monsod claimed that Philippine industrial electricity rates are definitely higher compared to residential rates and that the former even subsidizes the latter. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Barring complete ignorance, it was a falsehood that could have portrayed her as deliberately lying through her teeth.
A 2010 study by a Perth-based consulting firm providing advisory services to companies operating in and associated with the private power sector in the Asia-Pacific region, International Energy Consultants, whose client base now includes some of the largest companies in the energy supply industry, reveals that “Philippine average residential retail electricity rates were (at that time already) $0.18/kilowatt-hour (kWh) while industrial rates were averaging $0.13/kWh (both in US dollars).” But that’s not all.
The Performance Based Rate (PBR) pricing scheme formulated by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in 2004 also did its “wonders.” First, it established a Maximum Average Price (MAP) based on claims of projected capital expenditures (capex) by the power distributor Meralco (Manila Electric Co.) on asset base factors that were allegedly overpriced by as much as 1,000 percent. Then, this MAP was further subjected to “rate translation,” where residential (distribution) rates rose from P1 to P4/kWh (check your bill and be shocked) while industrial/commercial rates were pegged as low as P0.25/kWh for the largest industrial users like the giant malls.
Mang Naro Lualhati, one of the complainants in the P39-billion Meralco refund case in 2003 that the public won, has a pending complaint at the ERC on the latest MAP and “rate translation” issues, which states that the MAP should only be P0.90/kWh, instead of the P1.60/kWh approved by the regulatory body, and that the so-called “rate translation” should be discarded as it is discriminatory and even violative of the severely flawed Epira (Electric Power Industry Reform Act).
In fact, under that law’s provision in Section 23 on “Functions of Distribution Utilities,” it states: “A distribution utility shall have the obligation to provide distribution services and connections to its system for any end-user… Any entity engaged therein shall provide open and NON-DISCRIMINATORY access to its distribution system to all users… in the least cost manner to its captive market… (emphasis supplied).”
Even as both the ERC and Meralco will interpret any law’s provisions to their advantage, there is no doubt that the ERC should never veer away from the “least cost” and “non-discriminatory” provisions so as not to disadvantage the public.
Now, as to the claim that residential rates are being subsidized, just look at your electricity bills. You will notice that paying residential consumers are in fact subsidizing “lifeline rates” and “missionary electrification” — not government or industrial/commercial users.
Monsod has been puffed up by mainstream media to be the “best” economist there is, so much so that the views she expresses are not being vetted. Well, how can they hide the fact that her husband Christian Monsod has been a long-time collaborator of the owners of Meralco, whether in politics and business; that he sat on its board and served as its counsel and consultant to the chairman for many years; and that he was richly rewarded for all this?
Other than favoring Big Business, Monsod’s patently erroneous claim, which prejudices the public’s understanding of the true picture of the power cost consumers are saddled with, was nothing but an outright lie that can never be supported by any factual evidence. If she were only truly interested, she could have easily checked the Internet or consulted power consumer advocates such as Mang Naro, Nasecore (National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms), FDC (Freedom from Debt Coalition), and others. But going by her incredulous statement, it seems these are not the parties she listens to.
As for Binay, while I have not said anything good or bad about him in this column since the last elections, I must now give credit to his call for our growing Gross International Reserves (GIR) to be used for public and private sector funding for infrastructure, development, and the like.
Since the GIR is already larger than the country’s overall foreign currency debt of around $61 billion, the surplus gives us a lot more room to maneuver. But Binay should also look into the huge P1.7-trillion Special Deposit Account (SDA) lying idle in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which is used to pay interest to banks and other depositors in accordance with the desires of our foreign creditors. A push from the VP may just give our BSP officials the impetus to lower the interest paid out (by, say, 1 percent) in order to commit the fund for productive domestic use.
That Binay is beginning to show some understanding of the nation’s financial situation, which is essential to advance the national economy in a sovereign and independent way, shows real promise. Of course, his endorsement of Gloria Arroyo’s escalation of the eVAT (expanded value added tax) leaves much to be desired. But I believe that a closer examination of the simpler sales tax system proposed by Bataan Gov. Tet Garcia will make him see the light. After all, the many leakages in the graft-ridden tiers of input-output VAT computations (to the glee of corrupt tax agents) are designed only for the rich.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/17/2011
Late last week, two items in the news got my attention — one, a notable idea; the other, a notable lie. The first came from Vice President Jejomar Binay. In a recent meeting with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), he urged the national government to utilize its $75-billion gross international reserves to finance development programs as well as to make it available to local borrowers. This certainly echoes what we have been pushing for the past few months.
The other piece of news (which got my goat this time) came from the doyen of the ruling elite’s favored economists. In an interview with GMA News last Oct. 13, former Neda (National Economic Development Authority) chief Solita Monsod claimed that Philippine industrial electricity rates are definitely higher compared to residential rates and that the former even subsidizes the latter. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Barring complete ignorance, it was a falsehood that could have portrayed her as deliberately lying through her teeth.
A 2010 study by a Perth-based consulting firm providing advisory services to companies operating in and associated with the private power sector in the Asia-Pacific region, International Energy Consultants, whose client base now includes some of the largest companies in the energy supply industry, reveals that “Philippine average residential retail electricity rates were (at that time already) $0.18/kilowatt-hour (kWh) while industrial rates were averaging $0.13/kWh (both in US dollars).” But that’s not all.
The Performance Based Rate (PBR) pricing scheme formulated by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in 2004 also did its “wonders.” First, it established a Maximum Average Price (MAP) based on claims of projected capital expenditures (capex) by the power distributor Meralco (Manila Electric Co.) on asset base factors that were allegedly overpriced by as much as 1,000 percent. Then, this MAP was further subjected to “rate translation,” where residential (distribution) rates rose from P1 to P4/kWh (check your bill and be shocked) while industrial/commercial rates were pegged as low as P0.25/kWh for the largest industrial users like the giant malls.
Mang Naro Lualhati, one of the complainants in the P39-billion Meralco refund case in 2003 that the public won, has a pending complaint at the ERC on the latest MAP and “rate translation” issues, which states that the MAP should only be P0.90/kWh, instead of the P1.60/kWh approved by the regulatory body, and that the so-called “rate translation” should be discarded as it is discriminatory and even violative of the severely flawed Epira (Electric Power Industry Reform Act).
In fact, under that law’s provision in Section 23 on “Functions of Distribution Utilities,” it states: “A distribution utility shall have the obligation to provide distribution services and connections to its system for any end-user… Any entity engaged therein shall provide open and NON-DISCRIMINATORY access to its distribution system to all users… in the least cost manner to its captive market… (emphasis supplied).”
Even as both the ERC and Meralco will interpret any law’s provisions to their advantage, there is no doubt that the ERC should never veer away from the “least cost” and “non-discriminatory” provisions so as not to disadvantage the public.
Now, as to the claim that residential rates are being subsidized, just look at your electricity bills. You will notice that paying residential consumers are in fact subsidizing “lifeline rates” and “missionary electrification” — not government or industrial/commercial users.
Monsod has been puffed up by mainstream media to be the “best” economist there is, so much so that the views she expresses are not being vetted. Well, how can they hide the fact that her husband Christian Monsod has been a long-time collaborator of the owners of Meralco, whether in politics and business; that he sat on its board and served as its counsel and consultant to the chairman for many years; and that he was richly rewarded for all this?
Other than favoring Big Business, Monsod’s patently erroneous claim, which prejudices the public’s understanding of the true picture of the power cost consumers are saddled with, was nothing but an outright lie that can never be supported by any factual evidence. If she were only truly interested, she could have easily checked the Internet or consulted power consumer advocates such as Mang Naro, Nasecore (National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms), FDC (Freedom from Debt Coalition), and others. But going by her incredulous statement, it seems these are not the parties she listens to.
As for Binay, while I have not said anything good or bad about him in this column since the last elections, I must now give credit to his call for our growing Gross International Reserves (GIR) to be used for public and private sector funding for infrastructure, development, and the like.
Since the GIR is already larger than the country’s overall foreign currency debt of around $61 billion, the surplus gives us a lot more room to maneuver. But Binay should also look into the huge P1.7-trillion Special Deposit Account (SDA) lying idle in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which is used to pay interest to banks and other depositors in accordance with the desires of our foreign creditors. A push from the VP may just give our BSP officials the impetus to lower the interest paid out (by, say, 1 percent) in order to commit the fund for productive domestic use.
That Binay is beginning to show some understanding of the nation’s financial situation, which is essential to advance the national economy in a sovereign and independent way, shows real promise. Of course, his endorsement of Gloria Arroyo’s escalation of the eVAT (expanded value added tax) leaves much to be desired. But I believe that a closer examination of the simpler sales tax system proposed by Bataan Gov. Tet Garcia will make him see the light. After all, the many leakages in the graft-ridden tiers of input-output VAT computations (to the glee of corrupt tax agents) are designed only for the rich.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
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