Dump Serge, Dina

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

3/26-4/1/2012

The manipulated power crisis in Mindanao was created by the oligarchs and their minions.

Their minions include the Department of Energy (DoE), the Power Sector Asset and Liabilities Management (Psalm), the Energy Rgulatory Commission (ERC) and other similar entities.

The Mindanao power crisis has been a painful disaster for the economy of Mindanao, but it has also been a blessing in disguise as it awakened the country to the criminal character of the ruling oligarchs and the Epira law they pushed through the corrupt Philippine Congress over 10 years ago.

Readers of this column know that we have been exposing the scandalous power price blackmail of the past few years. They are being forced to accept exorbitant power prices by the DoE which has threatened to issue an order to force Mindanao electric cooperatives to buy power from Aboitiz's Therma Marine that's six times the normal 2.60/kwh rates in Mindanao.

Instead of complying the Mindanaoans have raised hell and they are getting the nation's attention now.

In a Manila Standard Today newspaper report by Christine Herrera last week headlined "Imperial Manila Noynoying," referring to the inaction of Malacañang to the power crisis in Mindanao, North Cotabato Gov. Emilou Talino-Mendoza charged that "intentional" four to eight-hour blackouts in Mindanao are being perpetrated "….because the Palace wants Mindanao to submit to its plan to privatize the hydrothermal power plants and to accept power barges from big business that charges exorbitant fees of P14 a kilowatt hour."

The report continued to say that Gov. Talino-Mendoza found it difficult to explain to her people why they were experiencing long blackouts when the province is host to the Mt. Apo Geothermal Power Plant being run by the Lopezes.

The governor said that today, four big businesses are involved in generating and distributing power in Mindanao: the Lopezes, the Ayalas, the mall mogul Henry Sy (actually Jr.) and the Aboitizes, who she said are all "friends" of President Benigno Aquino III.

The courageous governor says: "The Palace, the Department of Energy and Energy Regulatory Commission are Noynoying in Manila, while our people here are also forced to do Noynoying because they have nothing to do and are helpless about the blackouts that hit us everyday…"

General Santos City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custudio also joined the governor in the call against privatization of the Mindanao hyrdro-power assets and demand for a congressional investigation.

In the Senate, Chiz Escudero and Koko Pimentel have called on senate energy committee chair Serg Osmeña to launch an investigation.

Inn the Lower House, party list Cong. Angelo Palmones, Rep. Rufus Rodrigues of Cagayan de Oro and Vicente Belmonte of Iligan have called on the House energy counterpart Dina Abad to respond to the issues being raised.

Senator Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate committee on energy, vowed to conduct the probe but not before blaming Gloria Arroyo for the crisis.

Dina Abad, a Lopez minion, has kept quiet.

Serge Osmeña has spoken, alleging that Gloria Arroyo had been in the habit of compelling Napocor to reduce power prices to window dress her performance.

From all the historical facts that anyone can easily find on the Internet, Gloria Arroyo was forced on several occasions to do this because the Epira law that privatized the power sector and open it to the greed and abuses of the oligarchs caused power rates to shoot up to become the "highest power rates in Asia."

Arroyo is not without fault as the Epira was one of the concessions she was required to give to get the support of the oligarchs and its foreign partners in Edsa II.

We put on written record here, as it was stated by our GNN show guest and former Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) energy committee advocate Wilson, that Gloria Arroyo sought to stop the FDC from opposing the Epira; likewise Arroyo suppressed the exposé of the Partido Manggagawa congressman Renato Magtubo of the P500,000 payola through Sonny Belmonte to pass the Epira.

"The power rates in Mindanao have been politicized," Herrera quotes Osmeña, "This is why the Epira Law mandates the sale of Napocor's plants to the private sector, so that the private owners will not have to compete with government plants whose rates can be subsidized."

But what is wrong with government providing low and affordable rates to the public and why is Serg Osmeña so concerned with the private owners profit concerns and not the power consuming public that are adversely damaged by the high power rates the privatized power plants "private owners" are charging?

Obviously it is because Serg Osmeña is part of the Meralco-Lopez family and is seated in the energy committee to protect the oligarchs' interest and not the nation.

The Epira defenders like the Malaya editorial of March 22 point to Davao City which did not have blackouts during the crisis, but the generation cost there are double or almost double the areas hit by the crisis.

Gov. Talino-Mendoza said: "Davao's power generation is owned by the Ayalas and the distribution is also owned by the Ayalas. They wanted us to give up also the power distribution to the Lopezes, who now run the Mt. Apo Geothermal Plant," and Mt. Apo Geothermal Plant could generate 98 megawatts and North Cotabato's system peak demand was only at 38 megawatts, "… yet we contend with eight-hour blackouts everyday."

North Cotabato was negotiating with the Lopezes to reduce the cost of power to P3.50 per kilowatt hour from P4.11 when the blackouts started hitting it.

Talino-Mendoza said then: "We were told to accept power barges owned by big business that charges us P14 per kilowatt hour."

If North Cotabato accepts these rates today, they will be tied to them for the next 20 years as that is the duration of the contract, precisely the same type of con game and swindle the oligarchs and the corrupted DoE and ERC gave blessings to in Luzon and the Visayas.

At this writing, to try to resolve the irate Mandanaons' rebellion, Malacañang's Noynoy hints leasing the Aboitiz's Therma Marine power barges which it acquired for $30 million and turned around and assessed at $ 80 million as rate base to charge the P 14/kwh rate.

So, we ask Serge Osmeña: Isn't this the public capitalizing and subsidizing the oligarchs; a case of socialism for the rich and the risk and pains capitalism for the rest of us ordinary mortals?

This morning as I write ERC spokesman Saturnino Juan is lying through his teeth over DWIZ's Karambola to cover up the grandiose con game of the oligarchs, the corrupt politicians and captured Cabinet offices and regulatory agencies.

We are thankful the show then called up Mr. Jojo Borja to expose and denounce the lies of the ERC and its spokesperson right there and then.

At this writing, the Mindanoans are also filing a P 5-billion class suit against the government power executives in this power mess.

In Luzon, we must launch a movement to oust Serge Osemña and Dina Abad from their respective energy committees so the scandals may be truly investigated.

(Tune in to 1098AM, DWAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN's HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on "Mines: Bombs or Boon?"; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)

Abetting power blackmail

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/26/2012



Anger over the power price issue now erupting in Mindanao is one that this country has not seen since the initial outbursts against the power purchase agreements in Metro Manila almost a decade ago.

North Cotabato Gov. Emilou Talio-Mendoza, for instance, has made direct hits at three power oligarchs operating in Mindanao. Without mincing words, she accused them of engineering intentional power shortages to force Mindanao to accept the privatization of the vast Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric complex, where the cost of generation is less than P0.01 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) given the systems full depreciation. What privatization will do is bring about high power rates, which is what the oligarchs and multilateral financial agencies intend for Mindanao. Good thing she was joined by General Santos City Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio in opposing this move.

As expected, privatization advocates are pinning the blame on those who oppose power privatization. The March 22 editorial of Malaya, for example, argues that Davao City, which accepted privatization, does not experience blackouts. What they refuse to highlight is that power rates in Iligan City and the larger province of Lanao del Norte, where power outages frequently occur, hover at P6.56/kWh, compared to Davaos independent power producer (IPP) rates of P8.75/kWh that are at least 25 percent higher.

Evidently, their logic is that people can get uninterrupted power, but at the oligarchs price. Its nothing short of blackmail.

Its good that Iligan Citys residents have refused to sign the 20-year IPP contracts that aim to tie them to exorbitant power rates because they know that the current power shortages, which can be abated with the optimization of hydroelectricity, are merely artificial and short-term.

But absurd as the situation already is, blackmail rates in Mindanao are not even uniform. In North Cotabato, a Lopez company is reportedly asking P14/kWh for power from the already privatized Mt. Apo geothermal plants, which is dumbfounding given that the people are being made to choose between the blackouts and the high rates when the geothermal resource sits right in their province.

On the part of our legislators, there has been a growing clamor to look into the issue, too. But, even as such calls are made by Senators Chiz Escudero and Koko Pimentel or Representatives Vicente Belmonte, Rufus Rodriguez and Angelo Palmones, the chairmen of the respective Senate and House energy committees have been less forthcoming.

Serge Osmena, for one, blames Gloria Arroyo for politicizing the rates in yielding to populist demands by ordering the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to reduce its generation charge below costs, arguing that this is why the Epira (Electric Power Industry Reform Act) mandates the sale of Napocors plants to the private sector, so that the private owners will not have to compete with government plants whose rates can be subsidized.

Surely, given his position, Serge is well aware of several anomalies in the largely privatized Philippine power sector today, such as the Wholesale Electricity Spot Markets casino-like pricing that has yielded rates as high as P60/kWh from private IPPs; and yet he does nothing. Is that not a case of politicizing policies in favor of price gouging?

Kinship with a known oligarchic clan should have also disqualified Serge from his committee chairmanship due to conflict-of-interest; same with his House counterpart, Dina Abad, whose spouse is the author of the Omnibus Power Bill (precursor to the Epira). But, instead of declining for reason of delicadeza, these solons obediently follow the diktats of the oligarchs and the International Monetary Fund. Dina even kept on weighing down all proposed inquiries on the power issue for the past decade or so.

Strictly speaking, power rates have never been subsidized by government because consumers themselves have paid for these directly and not just as taxpayers. Funding for all the investments of Napocor is also sourced straight from the pockets of consumers and taxpayers. So whats all that talk about subsidies?

Privatization merely transferred consumers investments in state-owned power plants and, consequently, these plants surpluses or profits multiplied several times over to private pockets. The standard modus operandi is epitomized by the Aboitiz Groups purchase of Napocor Power Barges 117 and 118 three years ago for $30 million, which were then revalued at $80 million to form the basis of new rates worth P14/kWh.

In the same way, the intentional power crisis in Mindanao is aimed to force a privatization of the single biggest public asset there that can keep power rates down against the price predation of the power oligarchs. Sadly, successive Yellow regimes supported by the oligarchs (Cory, Ramos, Arroyo and PeNoy) have all done a Noynoying of the Agus-Pulangi by failing to dredge it at the very least, thereby reducing its generating capacity.

Meanwhile, captive government agencies continue to sell off Napocor assets for pitiful ditties while concocting efficiency formulas that give incentives to IPPs, raising their rates of return to as high as 17 percent, and allowing no-bidding on equipment and supplies purchases that are overpriced by up to 1000 percent. The Performance Based Regulation schemes three-year revaluation of all assets based on replacement value alone makes these asset values always go up (never to depreciate) and, as a result, the rate base as well.

The Epira was passed in 2001 after P500,000 individual payolas were allegedly circulated. Thereafter, the oligarchs legislative stooges were given free rein to stifle any questions or objections. Indeed, no progress can happen while they remain in their posts; but then, replacements must be thoroughly vetted by the public, too, lest the new ones proceed to milk the power oligarchs for their mutual benefit.

Amid all the gloom, the courageous Mindanaoans have already prepared a P5-billion class suit against government officials responsible for this intentional power crisis in Mindanao. My only advice: Make sure that the case does not land on the oligarchs assets in the judiciary, most especially those being bandied about by Malacaang and the Yellow media as cleaner than clean.

(Tune in to 1098AM, dwAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNNs HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., after Lent, on Mining: Bomb or Boon?; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)

The trending game

BACKBENCHER
Rod P. Kapunan
3/24-25/2012



It has never seeped into the minds of the so-called beacons in our society that the dispensation of justice has never been or can ever be a popularity contest. The judges, even from among primeval civilizations, do not judge the accused on the basis of what is popular; or condemn him because the people lust for his blood, or absolve him because he is influential. Civilized societies judge the accused on the basis of the evidence, and to impose the penalty if guilty, but not on what the public wants.

The survey conducted by Pulse Asia was an uncalled-for interference on the processes of the Senate impeachment court. It was a subtle attempt to influence the judgment of the impeachment court by the clever way of orchestrating “public sentiment.” There was malice much that it attempts to lay down the predicate that accused Chief Justice Renato Corona is guilty. Although only 47 percent of the respondents say Corona is guilty, the Philippine Daily Inquirer highlighted that in its banner to condition the readers that indeed the fellow is guilty.

Invariably, it forewarns the 24 members of the Senate impeachment court that they have no business acquitting him or that it would be morally wrong for them to pronounce him not guilty. To deviate could make them answerable to the people. The survey amounts to prejudging the accused, and Pulse Asia is now acting as the unwitting spokesman of President Aquino who earlier declared he will not accept anything less than a guilty verdict.

Even if we take it that 47 percent indicated he is guilty, the 43 percent undecided does not stand for nothing. Neither could Pulse Asia and Inquirer assume Corona could eventually be judged guilty. The same can be said for the 5 percent claiming to have no basis. Remember, the 43 percent undecided knows the issue but could not decide. In that sense they have their grave doubt on the guilt of Corona. The 5 percent represents those who do not know what is going on, while the other 5 percent says he is not guilty.

In that, one could deduce that the 43 percent undecided and the 5 percent claiming to have no basis are likely to judge Corona not guilty because it would be an insult if after 34 days of marathon hearing they have not been able to come out with their own preliminary conclusion of the case. The 43 percent undecided is a slap on the face of the prosecution because it highlights its failure to explain why its members acted more like clowns than as lawyers. It is not the duty of the defense to convince the public about the innocence of Corona. Theirs is to rebut all those allegations by presenting their own witnesses and evidence that he is not guilty!

The uncanny thing is that as the hearing progresses, the public comes to realize that the prosecution has not proven anything. Even if we give it to them that Corona is guilty, they already missed that opportunity. Many of the previously anti-Corona are now pro-Corona precisely because of the prosecution’s stupidity. Such pathetic situation reminded me of that old adage that if the prosecution is weak, the accused need not even need a lawyer. All that Corona did was to give them enough rope to hang themselves with.

The latest of this episode is the alleged erroneous Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth. That tart-wagging Senator Joker Arroyo is right that mistakes and errors in the SALN is not an impeachable offense. It cannot even be a misdemeanor. Errors and mistakes can always be rectified that is why we have the Civil Service Commission to check all those SALNs. What is impeachable if Corona did not file his SALN?

The same is true in the filing of income tax. Nobody goes to jail for committing an error or mistake in his income tax declaration. All taxpayers are given the widest leeway to explain why they did not pay for this or why they failed to declare some of their income. In that, taxpayers merely avail of their right to a tax deduction which is perfectly legal. It is the right of taxpayers to reduce the amount they want to pay just as it is the duty of the BIR to dispute that. What is being punished is tax evasion for in that instance the taxpayer purposely did not file his income tax.

To make things worse, all the errors the prosecution claims to have discovered in the SALN of Corona reveals their pathetic ineptness. Errors were bound to happen because the prosecution was holding on to titles and documents of properties that were either not owned by Corona, or have long been canceled, sold or disposed of. Some are even spurious to say the least. In which case, how could the prosecution proceed to punish Corona when knowingly it was they who used and presented that as their evidence?

My greatest fear is that Pulse Asia and all those hacks of this regime would from now on regularly dish out their alleged survey, gradually increasing the number of respondents pointing to Corona as guilty. Pulse Asia hopes to substitute the idiotic shortcomings of the prosecution forgetting that the Filipino people are not interested on what the supposed public opinion has to say, but in knowing the truth.

(rodkap@yahoo.com.ph)