NEWS AT A GLANCE

'Worst act of terrorism' done by oil companies - KMU

Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement) condemned Nov. 12 the latest oil price increase as the "worst act of terrorism done by oil companies." Petron recently raised the price of diesel by P0.50 per liter and gasoline by P1 per liter. Caltex, Shell and other oil companies followed suit.

"The people's real war against terror is the battle against relentless oil price hikes," said KMU executive vice chairperson Joselito Ustarez. "The government should shift its so-called anti-terrorism war to the country's worst terrorist cell -- the oil cartel."

Ustarez said that oil companies are at fault for "price manipulation, overpricing and amassing billions in profits at the expense of suffering consumers." Worse, he said, "the people's economic condition is continuously threatened by the series of oil price increases imposed by the oil cartel with consent from Malacañang."

He added that these oil price hikes are slowly killing the people because these lead to increases in prices of basic goods, services and public utilities. These increases result in "economic and political instability and economic chaos among the people," Ustarez said, “similar to the effects of terrorist acts”.

With these successive oil price hikes, 13 times for gasoline and 15 times for diesel this year alone, KMU said, their demands for higher wages are more than justified.

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Bayan Muna solon slams energy secretary over power contracts

BAYAN Muna Rep. Joel G. Virador criticized Nov. 12 Department of Energy (DoE) Secretary Vincent Perez after allegedly refusing to submit for study the contracts entered into by the National Power Corporation (Napocor) to independent power producers (IPP).
 
Virador said that the alleged onerous contracts that the Napocor had entered into are the causes behind its whooping debts. He also stated that the public has the right to know why they must bear an additional increase of P1.365 per kilowatt-hour.
 
“The public has the right to know all these contracts entered into with IPPs since they are the ones who shoulder the cost because of government’s continued policy of privatization,” Virador said. “Malacañang itself admitted that after a review of the 35 IPP contracts, 29 of these were flawed.” 
 
The solon also said that Malacañang is spreading false hopes this coming yuletide season as it asks the poor to be merry in the midst of surging power rates and increases in the prices of basic commodities.
 
“The statement of Malacañang that the Christmas season would be merry is preposterous,” Virador said. “No matter what they say about this fiscal crisis, it is the people who know best because their empty stomachs show the real score.”

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NSO survey reveals high infant mortality rate

Gabriela Women's Partylist Rep. Liza Largoza Maza said Nov. 9 that the results of the recent National Statistics Office (NSO) survey on infant mortality rate in the country should prompt the Arroyo government to increase the budget for health services.

The 2003 NSO survey revealed that for every 1,000 births in the Philippines, 29 children die before they reach their first year and 40 children die before reaching age 5. The survey also said that the infant mortality rate in the country is high compared to neighboring countries Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

However, Maza said the survey is wrong in singling out Filipino women for their alleged “inability to properly space childbirth” as the cause of the country’s high infant mortality rate.

She added that the country remains short in the legislation and implementation of a comprehensive policy for women's maternal and reproductive health care, while the health budget has consistently decreased over the years.

Maza said that a measly P10.4 billion has been earmarked for health services in the 2004 budget but it was further decreased to P10.3 billion in the 2005 proposed budget. "When you divide this budget for the needs of a population of 84 million, this budget cannot even buy a tablet of paracetamol for every Filipino," she said.

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Consumer group accuses Meralco of misleading rate increases

Consumer group People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates (POWER) slammed the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) Nov. 9 for allegedly issuing false and misleading statements that it was not earning anything from the latest round of power rate increases.
 
Generation rates have gone up after the National Power Corporation (Napocor) raised its rates by an average of P0.98 nationwide. For Luzon consumers, the rate increase will be P1.23/kWh. POWER however revealed that apart from an increase in generation rates, other items significantly increased.
 
After examining the latest Meralco electric bill, POWER discovered that Meralco’s charges for systems losses have increased by almost 15 centavos/kWh.  According to POWER convenor Engr. Ramon Ramirez, "That’s P3.36 billion in additional collections in one year or around P280 million a month.” The computations are based on projected Meralco kWh sales of 22.4 Billion kWh.  Systems losses are incurred when the generation and transmission processes are not very efficient thus; the distributor is not able to sell all the electricity that is at its disposal.
 
POWER said the latest round of increases is another reflection that something is wrong with the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. "It simply allows distributors to keep on recovering their losses at the expense of poor consumers, in effect, inefficiency is being rewarded with automatic cost recoveries,” Ramirez said.
 
In its November bill, Meralco explained that the increase in systems loss charges has been approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). Ramirez also said that the ERC allowed Meralco to recover its systems losses on an automatic basis, without hearings or consultations. "Hundreds of millions of pesos will be paid for inefficiency, pilferage and for Meralco’s own electricity use. If that is not unfair, then what is?” he said.

Bulatlat

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