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SEN.
Miriam Santiago suspects that an alleged syndicate in
the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is behind the high
power rates being borne by the power distributor’s
consumers in Luzon.
In an
interview,
Santiago assailed the high cost of electricity despite the passage of
the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), the law
enacted seven years ago to implement reforms in the
industry.
“Iyang
Meralco na iyan, dapat pasabugin na iyan. Pugad
iyan ng mga sindikato, mas grabe pa iyan sa Bureau
of Customs. Baka hindi iyan alam ng mga may-ari,”
she said.
Santiago
said the unnamed members of the syndicate are
manipulating things that resulted in the failure to
lower power rates, such as the purchase of electric
posts, wires, cables, electric meters, as well as
electricity bought from independent power producers (IPPs)
owned by the Lopez family, which also controls Meralco.
Santiago
admitted, however, that she has no evidence to back up
these allegations, but added she is convinced that
Meralco may have violated the law. “There is combination
in restraint of trade or monopoly,” maybe it’s time for
the justice department to make an example of the
officials and employees of Meralco. I’m not talking of
the Lopez group, they’re simply the owners,” she quickly
clarified.
Still,
Santiago and Sen. Rodolfo Biazon agreed that a
government takeover of Meralco is not the solution to
skyrocketing electricity rates.
Biazon
believes that government appointees would only run
Meralco to the ground and result in tremendous losses to
government institutions that invested funds in the power
company. “If [the] government gains control over this
utility company, we will witness a parade of incompetent
political appointees who will run the company.”
Biazon
warned that care must be taken on steps to effect a
change in the control and management of Meralco. He
cautioned that the government seems to be deploying all
powers and resources to effect government control over
the utility company. “This move is seemingly being put
into motion by mustering the necessary votes through the
use of government proxies.”
“If it
succeeds to effect government control and management of
Meralco, we will witness a parade of incompetent
political appointees who will be coming one after
another, depending on the direction of the political
wind,” he said.
“If this
happens, there is danger that this utility company could
go under. If this occurs, it may not only be the
interest of the general public being served by Meralco
that will be jeopardized, but may include the losses to
be suffered by government corporations owning stocks in
Meralco, such as the Government Service Insurance
System, that would also be put in danger.”
Party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna, meanwhile,
urged the House energy committee, which will meet on
Tuesday, to stretch the investigation of all government
and private power-utility groups to find whether their
business policies and practices deserve diligent
scrutiny.
There is
also a need for a comprehensive check if the Epira is
helping power consumers and small producers, Casiño
said.
“Instead
of focusing on Meralco alone, we believe that the others
also need to account for their respective practices to
the public. Everyone should be accountable and
answerable to the public,” said Casiño.
Casiño,
a member of the House energy committee, first called on
the investigation to shed light on why Meralco should be
singled out by President Arroyo’s appeal to the local
business community to check high power rates.
Casiño
proposed to include the National Transmission Corp.,
National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the other IPPs in the
business of the energy committee meeting next week.
The main
issues that should be investigated, Casiño said, are the
charging of system loss to consumers, the high rate of
sales of Napocor, high royalty rate and the supposed
abuse of power marketing of Meralco.
An
administration eyeing a retirement package for its
cronies after 2010 will not stop with the takeover of
Meralco but will conceivably try to take over other
companies on the pretext of protecting the public’s
interest, the United Opposition (UNO) warned.
“The
government says all it wants to do is to lower
electricity rates. It sounds good, but the chilling
question is where will the takeover spree end?” UNO
spokesman Adel Tamano said.
“If the
government takes over Meralco justifying it by lowering
prices, why not take over oil companies to lower gas
prices or food companies to lower prices of basic goods
as well? Pretty soon everything is going to be run and
controlled by this administration,” Tamano added.
The
planned government takeover of Meralco will only result
in inefficient service for consumers and the company
will only serve as a convenient milking cow for Palace
cronies, Tamano explained. (With C. Marquez Jr.) |
