TOPIC: Electrocuting Consumers: The Meralco PBR
Guests: Genaro Lualhati of Lawyers Against Monopoly and Poverty (LAMP) and Butch Junia of OpinYon.
[PART 1]
[PART 2]
[PART 3]
[PART 4]
[PART 5]
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N.B.: PBR is the acronym for "Performance Based Rate", a new rate setting methodology adopted by Meralco. The opinion of the blog admin is that PBR should be replaced to the Return on Rate Base (RORB) methodology and that the ERC should be abolished.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
From US frying pan to US fire
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/21/2011
Many Yellow “PeNoys” like to draw parallels between what’s happening in Egypt and the Middle East, on the one hand, and the Philippines in 1986, on the other. What they don’t realize is that the similarities aren’t as happy and sanguine as they are forcing themselves to believe.
Hidden beneath the veneer of revelry and jubilation is the truth that many have learned over the years, succinctly depicted in a title of Michel Chossudovsky’s recent article, entitled, “Dictators” do not dictate, they obey orders.” We know that these Third World “dictators” only obey their superior dictator, the imperial United States of America. Whenever these authoritarian figures present any impulse of recalcitrance, the giant dictator simply puts its foot down, crushes these small tin-pot dictators, and sets up new ones.
The Western-dominated (if not controlled) international mainstream media and their local derivatives present only one side of the growing turmoil and, in particular, leaders such as Mubarak. Despite these efforts, Western media cannot hide the fact that these autocrats have mainly acted for and in behalf of the US for over a generation. However they try to present an image of US and Western consensus in supporting a transition to “democratic” politics in these countries today, such efforts are merely belied by what’s happening on the ground.
In Egypt, as in all the other US-dominated states in turmoil, the Establishment (or the status quo) is still in control. The Egyptian transition government, for instance, is still under the former general and intelligence chief Suleiman and the Egyptian Army. Of course, the evicted Mubarak now undergoes the obligatory demonization by the same Western media that lionized him for a quarter of a century. The usual snippets of Mubarak’s “billions of dollars stacked away in Switzerland” have become a very effective tool in focusing all the rage against just one man to divert popular fury from the real hegemonic dictator.
And since The Great Dictator’s puppet Mubarak had already outlived his usefulness, he had to go (so the argument goes). But was this the only reason? Webster Tarpley, a geopolitical analyst with a sterling record of accuracy and a wide network of intelligence sources, wrote on Feb. 18 an article entitled, “Mubarak toppled by CIA because he opposed US plans for war with Iran; US eyes seizure of Suez Canal; Was this the threat that forced Mubarak to quit?”
For the West to have effectively excluded China, Russia, and Iran access to that vital trade route, Mubarak may have already shown a limit to his submissiveness. After all, it clearly appeared when he refused exile despite Western media’s insinuations of such a fate for him. Further, as he declared, “I’ll die in Egypt,” the West now seems to have obliged, as latest reports by the likes of CBS, BBC, and Al Jazeera (though still unconfirmed) say Mubarak is already in a coma. Could this be a psywar for an accession to exile?
Our own strongman Ferdinand Marcos was in many ways in the same position; yet he was not by any means as simplistic in his authoritarian rule as other tin-pot dictators proved. Marcos opened relations with socialist countries; achieved food self-sufficiency; and aspired for industrialization — all requisites of economic sovereignty and stable growth. He even attempted to establish a sovereign currency with his Bagong Lipunan notes — all these becoming too much for his US masters, so much so that he was forcibly abducted to Hawaii instead of being airlifted to Paoay as he wished.
Indonesia’s Suharto, meanwhile, was another US-sponsored dictator who was removed when the Indonesian state refused to give up East Timor, which the US had put under that nation’s care at the height of the Cold War, fearing communist takeover. As Indonesia developed a sense of sovereignty and even attempted to acquire the entire East German Navy (which the West adamantly objected to), the imperialist forces made sure that the nation’s permanent control of the East Timor oil shelf would not be realized.
As the Philippines has become the poster child for such managed transitions — it is only fitting to ask: “Transitions to what?” From strong one-man rule, isn’t it the case that the shift has only been toward greater control by the Western hegemonic dictatorship through financial totalitarianism?
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, research associate of the Center for Research on Globalization, traces all this to global capitalism in “Struggle for self-determination in the Arab world: The alliance between Arab dictators and global capital.” In it, he devotes a sub-section describing “Arab leaders as comprador elites serving foreign interests” which says: “…Class polarization has grown as the gap between the rich and the poor widens… The Arab people grasp the fact that their ruling class and governments are not only corrupt regimes, but also comprador elites, namely the local representatives of foreign corporations, governments, and interests… properly called parasite or parasitic elites, because they siphon off local wealth and resources on behalf of their neo-colonial masters. This structure of comprador elites prevails in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority… almost all Arab finance ministers are affiliated to the major global banking institutions. All of them also strictly adhere to the Washington Consensus of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.” Exact duplicate copies of the Philippines
The 25th anniversary of the Yellow transition from Marcos — a leader who attempted to develop an economically self-sufficient and sovereign Philippine state — is merely reliving the degeneration of this country into a nation run to the ground by a parasitic comprador corporatocratic society, where poverty and hunger, economic retrogression and mendicancy, moral collapse and social decay have reached unprecedented proportions.
The Filipino people, the patriotic military cells, as well as the economic middle class that are all under threat of extinction must, as Nazemroaya says of the Arab peoples, “grasp the fact that their ruling class are not only corrupt but are parasites” that must be extinguished before genuine popular political and economic liberation can come.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on the “Sorry Yellow Movement” with Charito Planas, Prof. Rene Ofreneo, and Linggoy Alcuaz; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and watch or listen to our select radio and GNN shows)
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/21/2011
Many Yellow “PeNoys” like to draw parallels between what’s happening in Egypt and the Middle East, on the one hand, and the Philippines in 1986, on the other. What they don’t realize is that the similarities aren’t as happy and sanguine as they are forcing themselves to believe.
Hidden beneath the veneer of revelry and jubilation is the truth that many have learned over the years, succinctly depicted in a title of Michel Chossudovsky’s recent article, entitled, “Dictators” do not dictate, they obey orders.” We know that these Third World “dictators” only obey their superior dictator, the imperial United States of America. Whenever these authoritarian figures present any impulse of recalcitrance, the giant dictator simply puts its foot down, crushes these small tin-pot dictators, and sets up new ones.
The Western-dominated (if not controlled) international mainstream media and their local derivatives present only one side of the growing turmoil and, in particular, leaders such as Mubarak. Despite these efforts, Western media cannot hide the fact that these autocrats have mainly acted for and in behalf of the US for over a generation. However they try to present an image of US and Western consensus in supporting a transition to “democratic” politics in these countries today, such efforts are merely belied by what’s happening on the ground.
In Egypt, as in all the other US-dominated states in turmoil, the Establishment (or the status quo) is still in control. The Egyptian transition government, for instance, is still under the former general and intelligence chief Suleiman and the Egyptian Army. Of course, the evicted Mubarak now undergoes the obligatory demonization by the same Western media that lionized him for a quarter of a century. The usual snippets of Mubarak’s “billions of dollars stacked away in Switzerland” have become a very effective tool in focusing all the rage against just one man to divert popular fury from the real hegemonic dictator.
And since The Great Dictator’s puppet Mubarak had already outlived his usefulness, he had to go (so the argument goes). But was this the only reason? Webster Tarpley, a geopolitical analyst with a sterling record of accuracy and a wide network of intelligence sources, wrote on Feb. 18 an article entitled, “Mubarak toppled by CIA because he opposed US plans for war with Iran; US eyes seizure of Suez Canal; Was this the threat that forced Mubarak to quit?”
For the West to have effectively excluded China, Russia, and Iran access to that vital trade route, Mubarak may have already shown a limit to his submissiveness. After all, it clearly appeared when he refused exile despite Western media’s insinuations of such a fate for him. Further, as he declared, “I’ll die in Egypt,” the West now seems to have obliged, as latest reports by the likes of CBS, BBC, and Al Jazeera (though still unconfirmed) say Mubarak is already in a coma. Could this be a psywar for an accession to exile?
Our own strongman Ferdinand Marcos was in many ways in the same position; yet he was not by any means as simplistic in his authoritarian rule as other tin-pot dictators proved. Marcos opened relations with socialist countries; achieved food self-sufficiency; and aspired for industrialization — all requisites of economic sovereignty and stable growth. He even attempted to establish a sovereign currency with his Bagong Lipunan notes — all these becoming too much for his US masters, so much so that he was forcibly abducted to Hawaii instead of being airlifted to Paoay as he wished.
Indonesia’s Suharto, meanwhile, was another US-sponsored dictator who was removed when the Indonesian state refused to give up East Timor, which the US had put under that nation’s care at the height of the Cold War, fearing communist takeover. As Indonesia developed a sense of sovereignty and even attempted to acquire the entire East German Navy (which the West adamantly objected to), the imperialist forces made sure that the nation’s permanent control of the East Timor oil shelf would not be realized.
As the Philippines has become the poster child for such managed transitions — it is only fitting to ask: “Transitions to what?” From strong one-man rule, isn’t it the case that the shift has only been toward greater control by the Western hegemonic dictatorship through financial totalitarianism?
Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, research associate of the Center for Research on Globalization, traces all this to global capitalism in “Struggle for self-determination in the Arab world: The alliance between Arab dictators and global capital.” In it, he devotes a sub-section describing “Arab leaders as comprador elites serving foreign interests” which says: “…Class polarization has grown as the gap between the rich and the poor widens… The Arab people grasp the fact that their ruling class and governments are not only corrupt regimes, but also comprador elites, namely the local representatives of foreign corporations, governments, and interests… properly called parasite or parasitic elites, because they siphon off local wealth and resources on behalf of their neo-colonial masters. This structure of comprador elites prevails in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority… almost all Arab finance ministers are affiliated to the major global banking institutions. All of them also strictly adhere to the Washington Consensus of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.” Exact duplicate copies of the Philippines
The 25th anniversary of the Yellow transition from Marcos — a leader who attempted to develop an economically self-sufficient and sovereign Philippine state — is merely reliving the degeneration of this country into a nation run to the ground by a parasitic comprador corporatocratic society, where poverty and hunger, economic retrogression and mendicancy, moral collapse and social decay have reached unprecedented proportions.
The Filipino people, the patriotic military cells, as well as the economic middle class that are all under threat of extinction must, as Nazemroaya says of the Arab peoples, “grasp the fact that their ruling class are not only corrupt but are parasites” that must be extinguished before genuine popular political and economic liberation can come.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on the “Sorry Yellow Movement” with Charito Planas, Prof. Rene Ofreneo, and Linggoy Alcuaz; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and watch or listen to our select radio and GNN shows)
Friday, February 18, 2011
True heroes
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/18/2011
Last Feb. 14, the Court of Appeals’ First Division extended the 60-day temporary restraining order it issued last Dec. 1, 2010 on the implementation of the P14.3-billion settlement of penalties between the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the National Power Corp. (Napocor).
Penned by Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao and concurred with by Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and Associate Justice Jan Aurora Lantion, that decision said, “…there is indeed an urgent need for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction in order to preserve the status quo of the pending controversy until the merits of the case have been fully adjudicated upon and to forestall the injurious effects, which may be grave and irreparable, that may result from the defiance of such status quo.”
Such status quo stemmed from Meralco’s violation of its 10-year supply contract with Napocor, which case Meralco lost, and where ensuing negotiations metamorphosed into a settlement in which both parties agreed to pass on the accrued penalties to Meralco’s customers.
Given this blatant transfer of liabilities from the supply contract violator (Meralco) to its electricity users, power consumer advocacy groups waged a vigorous campaign to save all of Meralco’s consumers from another illegal, unjust, oppressive, and exploitative “pass-on” cost that the power distributor was solely responsible for.
How Napocor agreed to such a settlement is simply reprehensible; one can only conclude that, again, as it often happens with such cases, some officials were corrupted into acquiescing to such a deal, thinking that the public would be none the wiser. Thankfully, they were wrong.
Consumer advocacy groups, such as Nasecore (National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms), FDC (Freedom from Debt Coalition), EmPower, Sulo ng Pilipino, Kaakbay, Bayan, and others stepped up to the plate by wielding their bats to fight off this new ambush. And it was an unrelenting battle indeed. Not only were they up against Meralco’s great financial resources; they also had to deal with mainstream media’s persistent focus on the fleeting and petty.
Amid the public’s general bewilderment about the vital issues of the day, we take our hats off to leaders such as Mang Naro Lualhati (who helped win our P30-billion refund before); Pete Ilagan and the Nasecore lawyers; writers like Butch Junia; as well as all the others who led and supported such efforts for helping us (captive electricity consumers) win another major victory against Meralco’s unending predation--this, despite meager resources and struggling against protest fatigue.
Crucial to this victory, too, were the CA justices who took the principled stand of not merely “walk(ing) in to corruption” as Angie Reyes did and accepting “things as they are.”
Last Wednesday, former Marine Col. Ariel Querubin filed his application for amnesty after a general court martial junked his motion to dismiss the mutiny charge against him. One of the few living awardees of the Medal of Valor, Querubin attached a narration of facts explaining the events that led to the standoff at the Marine HQ in 2006. He told of being approached by US servicemen and young AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines ) officers who reported “rampant election fraud” in the 2004 presidential elections, becoming “the repository of… gripes and grievances” of those who “witnessed cheating or… themselves were used to manipulate the results of the 2004 election in favor of Gloria Arroyo.”
He was astonished when superiors told him, as he told Tribune, “not to rock the boat and not to be naïve. They told me that everybody cheats in the election and GMA was the lesser evil.” Of course, they couldn’t tell him that Gloria also gave out hundreds of millions back then and was to later reward those “higher AFP authorities” very handsomely.
Querubin continues: “…nobody (among his higher-ups) did anything, even after we brought up the matter to the chairman of the Senate defense committee (then Senator Rodolfo Biazon) who is a former soldier. The US servicemen were sent back to the States…”
When the Mayuga fact finding committee was formed to look into the military’s involvement in the electoral fraud, Querubin informed Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga that there were officers willing to testify on the election cheating but they were never called to give their statements.
Further, Querubin’s brigade confiscated 34 assorted high-powered firearms with tampered serial numbers and thousands of ammo intended for the Ampatuans but senior military officers and politicians interceded for their release; and when he filed cases against a police provincial director and a mayor, these were simply dropped and he was relieved of his command in Marawi.
Querubin’s statement is a must read as it reveals more conspiracies between the AFP generals and the corrupt political cabal of GMA, including the connivance between Generals Senga and Demaala to intercede for the release of the firearms to the Ampatuans because, as Senga said, he was instructed “… look for ways (on) how to help (Gov. Ampatuan) since the Palace had asked him (Senga) to...” Querubin is a Filipino who may have “walked into” corruption; but he courageously turned and marched away, and fought against it.
With Col. Querubin is another true soldier, Gen. Danilo Lim, who up to now refuses to apply for amnesty as this, he says, would “mean that nothing wrong happened during the time of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.” Compare these to Angelo Reyes’ story.
From the justices of the CA who penned the decision, supporting justice for electricity consumers against the feared swindle of Meralco and Napocor; to the countless and unnamed consumer advocates fighting without even reimbursement of personal costs; to the gallant and genuine “Soldiers of the People” like Gen. Danilo Lim, Col. Ariel Querubin, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Maj. Jason Aquino, and the many men (and women) of the Bagong Katipuneros (Magdalos) and Para sa Bayan (PsB), all true Filipino heroes stand proud.
Shame on those Gloria Arroyo hacks in print and broadcast media who praise the cowardly and corrupt cheats; and demean the true, the brave, and the noble Filipino heroes!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on the “Sorry Yellow Movement” with Charito Planas and Linggoy Alcuaz; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com and listen to our select radio and GNN shows)
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/18/2011
Last Feb. 14, the Court of Appeals’ First Division extended the 60-day temporary restraining order it issued last Dec. 1, 2010 on the implementation of the P14.3-billion settlement of penalties between the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the National Power Corp. (Napocor).
Penned by Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao and concurred with by Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and Associate Justice Jan Aurora Lantion, that decision said, “…there is indeed an urgent need for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction in order to preserve the status quo of the pending controversy until the merits of the case have been fully adjudicated upon and to forestall the injurious effects, which may be grave and irreparable, that may result from the defiance of such status quo.”
Such status quo stemmed from Meralco’s violation of its 10-year supply contract with Napocor, which case Meralco lost, and where ensuing negotiations metamorphosed into a settlement in which both parties agreed to pass on the accrued penalties to Meralco’s customers.
Given this blatant transfer of liabilities from the supply contract violator (Meralco) to its electricity users, power consumer advocacy groups waged a vigorous campaign to save all of Meralco’s consumers from another illegal, unjust, oppressive, and exploitative “pass-on” cost that the power distributor was solely responsible for.
How Napocor agreed to such a settlement is simply reprehensible; one can only conclude that, again, as it often happens with such cases, some officials were corrupted into acquiescing to such a deal, thinking that the public would be none the wiser. Thankfully, they were wrong.
Consumer advocacy groups, such as Nasecore (National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms), FDC (Freedom from Debt Coalition), EmPower, Sulo ng Pilipino, Kaakbay, Bayan, and others stepped up to the plate by wielding their bats to fight off this new ambush. And it was an unrelenting battle indeed. Not only were they up against Meralco’s great financial resources; they also had to deal with mainstream media’s persistent focus on the fleeting and petty.
Amid the public’s general bewilderment about the vital issues of the day, we take our hats off to leaders such as Mang Naro Lualhati (who helped win our P30-billion refund before); Pete Ilagan and the Nasecore lawyers; writers like Butch Junia; as well as all the others who led and supported such efforts for helping us (captive electricity consumers) win another major victory against Meralco’s unending predation--this, despite meager resources and struggling against protest fatigue.
Crucial to this victory, too, were the CA justices who took the principled stand of not merely “walk(ing) in to corruption” as Angie Reyes did and accepting “things as they are.”
Last Wednesday, former Marine Col. Ariel Querubin filed his application for amnesty after a general court martial junked his motion to dismiss the mutiny charge against him. One of the few living awardees of the Medal of Valor, Querubin attached a narration of facts explaining the events that led to the standoff at the Marine HQ in 2006. He told of being approached by US servicemen and young AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines ) officers who reported “rampant election fraud” in the 2004 presidential elections, becoming “the repository of… gripes and grievances” of those who “witnessed cheating or… themselves were used to manipulate the results of the 2004 election in favor of Gloria Arroyo.”
He was astonished when superiors told him, as he told Tribune, “not to rock the boat and not to be naïve. They told me that everybody cheats in the election and GMA was the lesser evil.” Of course, they couldn’t tell him that Gloria also gave out hundreds of millions back then and was to later reward those “higher AFP authorities” very handsomely.
Querubin continues: “…nobody (among his higher-ups) did anything, even after we brought up the matter to the chairman of the Senate defense committee (then Senator Rodolfo Biazon) who is a former soldier. The US servicemen were sent back to the States…”
When the Mayuga fact finding committee was formed to look into the military’s involvement in the electoral fraud, Querubin informed Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga that there were officers willing to testify on the election cheating but they were never called to give their statements.
Further, Querubin’s brigade confiscated 34 assorted high-powered firearms with tampered serial numbers and thousands of ammo intended for the Ampatuans but senior military officers and politicians interceded for their release; and when he filed cases against a police provincial director and a mayor, these were simply dropped and he was relieved of his command in Marawi.
Querubin’s statement is a must read as it reveals more conspiracies between the AFP generals and the corrupt political cabal of GMA, including the connivance between Generals Senga and Demaala to intercede for the release of the firearms to the Ampatuans because, as Senga said, he was instructed “… look for ways (on) how to help (Gov. Ampatuan) since the Palace had asked him (Senga) to...” Querubin is a Filipino who may have “walked into” corruption; but he courageously turned and marched away, and fought against it.
With Col. Querubin is another true soldier, Gen. Danilo Lim, who up to now refuses to apply for amnesty as this, he says, would “mean that nothing wrong happened during the time of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.” Compare these to Angelo Reyes’ story.
From the justices of the CA who penned the decision, supporting justice for electricity consumers against the feared swindle of Meralco and Napocor; to the countless and unnamed consumer advocates fighting without even reimbursement of personal costs; to the gallant and genuine “Soldiers of the People” like Gen. Danilo Lim, Col. Ariel Querubin, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Maj. Jason Aquino, and the many men (and women) of the Bagong Katipuneros (Magdalos) and Para sa Bayan (PsB), all true Filipino heroes stand proud.
Shame on those Gloria Arroyo hacks in print and broadcast media who praise the cowardly and corrupt cheats; and demean the true, the brave, and the noble Filipino heroes!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on the “Sorry Yellow Movement” with Charito Planas and Linggoy Alcuaz; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com and listen to our select radio and GNN shows)
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