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IT is
well that everybody, including the protagonists in what
is now being touted as the biggest and, by the looks of
it, the most acrimonious corporate battle in recent
memory over the country’s biggest power-distribution
utility, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), have agreed on a
common objective—reduce the power rates in the country.
That
fact established should allay fears, contrived or
otherwise, that the clamor for reduced rates is just a
ploy by some elements in the government to divert the
many issues raised against it by critics, or otherwise
put pressure on the Lopezes whose media outfit, ABS-CBN,
has been pinpointed, quite unfairly, by some quarters
close to the Palace as an “unreconstructed partner” in
the continuing destabilization of the present regime.
Or, if the Lopezes are to be believed, take over the
utility altogether.
These
issues, no matter how critical or juicy, will, of
course, have to be discussed some other time. For the
moment, these may be considered side issues to the more
basic one of how to go about reducing our electricity
rates across-the-board. Indeed, what matters is the
universal clamor to reduce power rates that are now
almost equal to Japan, the world’s second-largest
economy, and all efforts to precisely bring that to a
sustainable fruition should be encouraged.
The
position of the Lopez family—which controls 33.5 percent
of Meralco, which used to manage it before martial law
and which retook it after Edsa 1 courtesy of the Aquino
administration—is that the government and its
power-generation company, National Power Corp. (Napocor),
are the real culprits.
The
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the
government employees’ pension and services entity which
owns 25 percent of the utility, has put the blame
squarely on the alleged abuses and mismanagement of the
Lopez group for years. Whether one agrees with the first
or the second party in this war, what is important is
the acknowledgement that this matter can no longer be
allowed to fester. In the word of one foreign observer,
we can no longer have business as usual in this critical
sector. And since the Meralco franchise area has been so
expanded that it now covers more than half of the
country’s electricity users and thus buys as much of its
power, then it stands to reason that the process of
review and reform starts with its operations.
Which is
why the exchange of charges between Oscar Lopez, the
family patriarch and chairman of its holding company,
First Holdings, and his archcritic, GSIS president and
GM Winston Garcia, on the Meralco issue is truly
providential. By their accounts, the public gets to
appreciate the whys and wherefores of this long-awaited
review of the utility’s multibillion-peso operations.
Garcia has put forth five basic questions: a) Why is
Meralco’s distribution charge higher by more than P1/kWh
than those charged by utilities in Cebu and Davao and
even by some electric cooperatives? b) Why is Meralco’s
“power buying” skewed in favor of the Lopez-owned
independent power producers (IPPs), and at higher rates
at that? c) Why is Meralco’s systems loss pegged at 8
percent to 9 percent over the years, which points to
serious mismanagement and, worse, undue burden to its
customers as its incompetence is just passed on? d) Why
have Meralco’s profits and dividends been so minuscule
compared with those declared by the Lopez-owned IPPs and
companies doing business with the utility? and e) Why is
Meralco’s staffing top-heavy and costly?
These
questions are so basic that it does not take genius to
appreciate and answer them as honestly and factually as
should be; and everybody believes Meralco management
will do so in no time at all, even as it has been making
the case that it is Napocor and skewed government
policies which are to blame for the rising costs. Even
that argument will find sympathetic ears as the public
now realizes that, indeed, the Electric Power Industry
Reform Act which governs the power sector needs to be
revisited soon before it becomes not only irrelevant but
too burdensome for consumers to bear.
Qatar
airways takes flight
After
adding yet another destination to its fully booked two
cities’ route in the burgeoning China market, Qatar
Airways has unveiled an aggressive expansion plan that
will take it to more destinations in the Asia-Pacific,
Europe, US/Canada, Africa and even South America markets
in the next five years. No less than Qatar Airways CEO
Akbar Al Bakr advised that the airline will order 200
aircraft worth $30 billion to complement its already
robust fleet of Boeings and Airbuses now playing the
main travel routes.
The
airline, which boasts the newest fleets even among the
famed Middle Eastern group of airline companies which
have been on a buying spree for the past three years,
will take delivery of its first long-range Boeing
777-200 by November and hopes to take delivery of 80 of
Airbus’ new-generation A350s, five twin-deck A380s, 60
Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 30 Boeing 777-200s over the
next two years. That is as impressive as any airline can
dream of, putting Qatar Airways solidly in the ranks of
such other big spenders, so to speak, like Emirates Air
and Etihad, to name just two of the more aggressive
airlines in the region. This is a welcome development
which augurs well for our own dreams of transforming the
country into a major destination, using our
long-standing links with the region which hosts more
than a million of our countrymen and whose residents’
flair for travel will no doubt increase in the years to
come. What is needed now is an organized effort to draw
in these so-called “big spenders” to partner and draw
with us a sustainable package.
Villar’s fancy gone sour
IT is
unfortunate that Senate President Manny Villar, who is
our partner in this page, allowed himself to be swept
into the controversy roiling the billiards industry to
mount a Villar Cup. The opening of the Villar Cup was
apparently timed to coincide with the international pool
tour sponsored jointly by the Billiards and Snookers
Congress of the Philippines, the officially sanctioned
association recognized by the international community,
and the League of Cities of the
Philippines
whose leader, Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos,
hosted the first leg on May 6. The tournament will then
proceed to five other cities and will bring in
international stars to play with local enthusiasts in a
bid to bring the game to the grassroots, and thus
provide more opportunities for those in the countryside
to actively participate in the sport.
Sayang.
. . .
E-mail: emman_delacruz@yahoo.com. |
