SAYING that it will greatly relieve many Filipinos who can hardly cope with the rising cost of food and fuel, the House of Representatives may take action to suspend the application of the 12-percent expanded value-added tax (E-VAT) on the electric charges of residential consumers whose bills do not exceed P5,000 a month.

Speaker Prospero Nograles asked the House Committee on Energy led by Lakas Rep. Mikey Arroyo of Pampanga to study the move and its impact on the economy.

“The high cost of food and fuel is already too much to bear for many of our countrymen. I think that there is now a need to consider lifting the E-VAT on electricity for residential consumers who have an average electric bill of P5,000 and below,” Nograles said.

He said buck passing on who is responsible for the high cost of energy will not help improve the lives of Filipinos and the only way to provide them relief is to discover ways and means on how to reduce their economic burden in the face of the spiraling cost of food and fuel.

He added the controversial “system loss” charges being imposed by power distribution companies should be also reviewed and the possibility of putting a cap on the amount being charged from the consumers should be seriously considered.

“System losses charged to consumers, although practiced worldwide, should be revisited and amended to a most reasonable basis and must have a cap. It can’t be open-ended,” he said.

Besides providing economic relief to millions of Filipinos, Nograles said suspending the E-VAT on electricity for ordinary residential consumers will greatly help in the government’s campaign to conserve energy and minimize greenhouse emissions from power plants.

“Lifting the E-VAT can be like an incentive to those who save energy. It’s also good for the environment if we can greatly reduce our overall power consumption,” he said.

Nograles said that his proposal to lift the E-VAT on electricity for residential users can be applied temporarily until the cost of fuel in the world market becomes stable, or it can be adopted as a permanent government policy if it will not have crippling effects on the economy.

Relatedly, Lakas Rep. Exequiel Javier of Antique has filed House Bill 3440, seeking to exempt poor families from E-VAT on electricity.

Javier said that customers with an average monthly consumption of zero to 50 kilowatt-hour (kWh) a month should get 50-percent discount on their electricity bill.

Those who use an average of 51 to 70 kWh a month will be given 35-percent discount, while those who consume 71 to 100 kWh monthly will get a 20-percent discount, Javier said.

Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, vice chairman of the House energy committee, meanwhile, accused Meralco and First Gas Holdings of peddling another “blatant and unexpurgated lie” that  First Gas’s 1,000-MW Santa Rita plant was fully operational in 2000 and 2001 and Meralco had to pay full capacity charges because the National Power Corp. (Napocor) failed to deliver the agreed transmission-line facilities.

He said that resorting to peddling falsehoods and issuing misleading statements cannot cover up or belie what are contained in Meralco’s own documents that the Lopez family owned IPP, First Gas, did not deliver the corresponding electricity to Meralco in the 2001 but was nonetheless paid by Meralco an average of P1.08 billion a month for full capacity fees and fixed expenses equivalent to 1,000 MW.

“Meralco blamed the state-owned National Power Corp.  for its failure to provide the transmission lines needed to transport power from the First Gas plant” according to First Gas executive vice president Richard Tantoco.

Villafuerte, however, said he has Energy Regulatory Commission documents showing that Meralco and First Gas Power did not really have a firm transmission line agreement with the Transco or the National Transmission Corp., the power transmission services monopoly that was spun off from Napocor.

Because it only had a “No Firm Transmission Service Agreement” First Gas therefore had no contractual right to expect the availability of such transmission facilities and Meralco had no business paying its sister company P1.08 billion a month for power it was not delivering, Villafuerte said.

Wage board reps biased, says TUCP exec

THE Trade Union Congress of the Philippines  (TUCP) is “extremely disappointed” with the P20 salary adjustment for Metro Manila’s minimum-wage earners, and has questioned the integrity of government representatives sitting as members of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB).

Malacañang on Sunday announced what may be the full extent of the Cabinet revamp earlier confirmed by President Arroyo:  Chief Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza as the new press secretary starting June 16, and in his place, newly retired Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr.

STARTING Wednesday, the minimum fare for passenger jeepneys will be P8.

This, after the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) acceded to the plea of transport groups to increase the minimum fare in the midst of the spiraling prices of petroleum products.

SAYING that it will greatly relieve many Filipinos who can hardly cope with the rising cost of food and fuel, the House of Representatives may take action to suspend the application of the 12-percent expanded value-added tax (E-VAT) on the electric charges of residential consumers whose bills do not exceed P5,000 a month.

IT was supposed to be a case of sore throat but the doctor recommended that she spend at least a day in the hospital.

A DECADES-OLD policy bias against agriculture is a major cause of the looming food shortage, according to Sen. Edgardo Angara.