THE Joint House committees on Energy, Government Enterprises and Privatization, and Mindanao Affairs have approved on Wednesday the bill that aims to establish the proposed Mindanao Power Corp. (Minpocor).
The bill, entitled “An Act Creating the Mindanao Power Corp. and Providing Funds Therefor” was principally authored by Party-list Rep. Edgardo R. Masongsong of 1 CARE, together with 33 other legislators, including Rep. Reynaldo V. Umali of Oriental Mindoro. It aims to substitute House Bill 676, 2621, and 4883.
Umali has presided the hearing, together with Reps. Arnulfo Go of House Committee on Mindanao Affair and Jesus Sacdalan of House Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization.
Resource persons and the legislators raised different issues that they thought could hamper the passage of the Minpocor bill like the Bangsamoro basic law, and how it could affect the implementation of Minpocor.
Both the legislators and the resource persons have expressed strong support for the passage of the Minpocor bill because of its importance in the development of Mindanao. Minpocor, if established, aims to provide sufficient but affordable power supply across Mindanao.
Umali highlighted that the lack of sufficient and reliable power supply has resulted to the underdevelopment in Mindanao and other parts of the country.
He adds that stable power supply serves as a magnet for the people and therefore leads to increased economic activities. “That is the natural tendency. When you put in power, definitely people will gravitate toward it, and people would want to engage in some business,” Umali said.
The government, he added, should prioritize power in crafting laws and implementing projects. “Power precedes development,” Umali said. He added that this will benefit greatly the Mindanaoans who had long suffered from inadequate power supply and underdevelopment.
With the passage of the Minpocor at the committee level, Umali said the measure needs to go through the committees on appropriation and ways and means before being tackled in the plenary.
Umali, cochairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission and the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Biofuels, likewise, urged his fellow legislators to hasten the passage of the bill, because the upcoming campaign season for the 2016 elections might sidetrack the bill’s enactment into law.
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