Tempest over coal and power

Ay, naku! What a cursed state we are in.                

This is the common plaint we have been hearing as we get hit or threatened to be mowed under by one national malady after another for days on end. But are these plaints for real or just tempests on a teapot?

                This is the question being asked by concerned sectors as news of rotating brownouts and questionable coal-supply deals crept into the headlines even as the country struggles with a looming rice crisis. We will soon find out which is which and what is what as more details of these twin curses, if we may call it that, over rice and power are brought into the open. What is clear is there is smoke all over the place and some quarters are already raring to have certain persons and entities literally thrown over burning coals.

                Well, in the case of rice, we say thanks for some mercies as the issue gets cleared up with the passing of the days. As our cohost and Sorsogon Rep. and former Agriculture secretary twice over Sonny Escudero correctly pointed out in our regular radio program Karambola over dwIZ, the much, ballyhooed rice crisis is more perception than reality.

                The fact is, as Ka Sonny noted, we have a buffer rice stock of 57 days at the end of March, which is well within the normal limits this time of the year. With more rice stocks getting into line within the next two months (April and May are traditional harvest times), that buffer should be up by another 45 days in no time at all.

                That, plus the expected delivery of more than a million tons of imported rice in three to four months as the administration decided to compete for the remaining stock in the world market, should already tide us over for the year even as we expect the worst from the expected rains and flooding resulting from La Niña.

                What is clear from all of these measures is we will have the needed supply this year, but at higher prices. There will be no long queues for the basic staple, but there will be grumbling down to the littlest communities unless the government is prepared to subsidize the price increases, which may not be a good idea at this time.

                So, if anybody starts bleating about possible food riots and other doomsday scenes, he or she should be booked for “alarm and scandal,” not to mention ignorance.

                What we should be more interested in is what our officials in both the executive and legislative branches are proposing to avert the possibility of a real rice crisis in the medium term. For, if truth be told, we remain highly vulnerable to the vagaries not only of the weather but of the world market as more people get to consume rice, which rice-producing nations may not be able to support in time.

                That can spark a price war for the exportable stocks, which we will be duty-bound to engage in given our production limitations at this time. We need to rehabilitate our rice lands, open up more idle areas for cultivation and enhance our capabilities if we are to limit the negative impact of such a scenario at all.

                Fixing in the immediate term not this year’s problem is what we should now look into, and finger-pointing will not do the trick for us.   

What about coal power?

                It is the prospect of rotating brownouts as we get to summer and beyond which is more real at this time.

                That this possibility first came into the fore when no less than National Power Corp. (Napocor) president Cyril del Callar recommended the activation of the public-private task force to address the prolonged shutdown of the Malampaya deep-water gas facility for inspection and maintenance is most welcome.

                But del Callar’s proactive gesture was greeted with deep skepticism by the usual critics (why make such suggestion as Malampaya is shutting down not before is the caustic indictment), even as the gas-complex operator assured one and all that supplies will not be disrupted, as it had other sources.

                Worse, it is now being used to hurl added opprobrium by way of questions raised on the conduct of the power company’s annual coal-supply arrangements, which runs in the billions.

                In particular, Napocor is now being charged with awarding a P956-million coal-supply contract to a newly registered company with questionable credentials. As charged, the power firm is being hauled to the burning coals for reportedly contracting
 with Transpacific Consolidated Resources Inc. (TCRI), which is supposed to be in joint venture with an Indonesian firm, PT Marsitero Marloan Prakarsa, under highly suspicious circumstances.

                First, it accredited the joint venture despite questions about its financial, technical and related capability to undertake the job. Second, it proceeded to contract and then increase even more its contracted supply with the same joint venture despite such questions.

                The nagging suspicion is that this shadowy joint venture is clearly just a conduit for the award and will probably merely flip the entire contract all over after getting its fees. If that happens, as is likely to unless Napocor itself clarifies the entire transaction in time, then it will surely be violating its own processes and elementary contracting terms, which frowns on conduits, especially shadowy ones, for its basic requirements.

                This concern becomes especially critical in view of continuing skepticism about the real state of the country’s power supply. For, if truth be told, this is not the first time and will probably not be the last that prospects of continuing power shortages, or, as is now being touted, “rotating brownouts,” are in the air.

                Like in the case of rice and other staples, this feeling of hopelessness is made even more dramatic by the seeming lack of, if not patchy and belated, information about the real power situation being dished out by those in charge like del Callar.

                The case of Transpacific/PT Marsitero is instructive. The way del Callar and company have handled this situation leaves much to be desired. For even as some sectors could go along and give him and his boys the benefit of the doubt, they have yet to fully disclose the kind of information which can still the critics.

                Simply brushing the issue as baseless and part of a continuing effort by  critics to sabotage Napocor’s operations and ultimately destabilize the government is too much of a hard sell. Why can’t they just answer the questions point-by-point, starting with the credentials of this little-known venture Transpacific/PT Marsitero. By coming out with a believable and forthright answer all innuendoes—and there are a lot about del Callar’s conduct and the state of our power sector—will be stilled and thrown out of the window.

                Resorting to counter charges and ad hominem will not do the trick, and they better believe it.  

The National Food Summit held at the Clark Free-port Zone last week was called to discuss policies and programs, attract bigger investments and launch development programs that would impact favorably on food supplies and prices amid a looming world food crisis.

These days, pigs have reason to be very angry with humans, especially the Filipino variety.  Pigs are bred and mercilessly killed for food. No feast is complete without a lechon as centerpiece. At the same time, some of the worst human characteristics are ascribed to pigs.

Had we understood what the Japan-Philippines Econo-mic Partnership Agreement  (Jpepa) was really about, seeing it as a response to the failures of global trade initiatives, then we might not be the pathetic victims we currently are to the food crisis that afflicts us.

Personal Finance: White lies beneath

The issue may be passé but the topic is not. After the disastrous “investment” scam that hit the country last year, another one recently made headlines.

The Entrepreneur: Rationalizing incentives

WE pay a big price in encouraging investors to put up factories and operate industries in our country.

Coast-to-Coast: Tempest over coal and power

Ay, naku! What a cursed state we are in.                

This is the common plaint we have been hearing as we get hit or threatened to be mowed under by one national malady after another for days on end. But are these plaints for real or just tempests on a teapot?

Reflections from the Mirror: Profiteering is inhuman

Hoarding is a dastardly act that benefits only the capitalist and displaces thousands of consumers. The capitalist has the money and the motive to amass stocks in order to manipulate prices to take in enormous profits, to the detriment and disadvantage of the consumer who shoulders the gluttony of the capitalist for more and more profits.