Militants Start Signature Drive 
to Repeal Energy Law 
Energy official says EPIRA has missionary task to provide people 
with electricity 

Leaders of the worker-peasant group Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) started gathering consumers signatures last week as part of a full-blast campaign to repeal the Energy Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). 

By Gerry Albert Corpuz
Bulatlat.com

In a statement emailed to Bulatlat.com, Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) said it would bring hundreds of thousands of signatures to the House at the opening of Congress on July 28.

"We will do it by series," the statement. "The first 10,000 signatures will be delivered on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's third and last State of the Nation Address."

Labor leader Sammy Malunes, Anakpawis spokesperson, said his group will intensify the campaign for the repeal of the power act which he said had paved the way for the reincarnation of the controversial Purchased Power Adjustment (PPA) as "rate unbundling."

"This shotgun piece of legislation made Meralco the biggest monster of the millennium," Malunes said.

Unless EPIRA is repealed by Congress, the labor leader said, the people will continue to pay high electricity fees as provided in Section 36 of the law which passes on to consumers the burden of paying stranded costs resulting from onerous contracts negotiated by Napocor and Meralco with independent power producers (IPPs).

Anakpawis also said it will lobby for the repeal of the power industry act beginning July. It said it is preparing a major battle plan before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to challenge its approval of the unbundling of Meralco rates.

Meralco's profiteering and acts of national plunder in the name of people's rights and welfare, including its 3.9 million customers, must be stopped, Anakpawis went further.

St. John the Baptist

Last June 24, militant groups like Gabriela, youth party-list Anak ng Bayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU-May First Movement), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP-Peasant Movement of the Philippines), Pamalakaya, Nnara-Youth, the government workers' union Courage and Migrante joined Anakpawis in a protest caravan coinciding with the second anniversary of the passage of Epira and the feast day of St. John the Baptist.

Kicking off at the Quezon City Memorial Circle, the protest caravan snaked its way through the districts of Kamuning and Muņoz before it ended up in Trabajo Market in Sampaloc, Manila. "While townspeople from San Juan to Sampaloc celebrated St. John the Baptist feast day by dousing neighbors and passerby with waters, they would also like to drown GMA in freezing cold water," Anakpawis said.

Data obtained from Meralco Employees' and Workers Association (MEWA) revealed  the PPA collected from consumers prior to unbundling went up to P3.21 kWh in the first quarter of 2003 from P1.942 in March 2002.

The group said in the first six months of 2003, power rate increased by 21.51 centavos representing the 4 centavo increase in Meralco's basic rate along with the 8.75 cents from approved collections of deferred PPA and 8.76 centavos approval of the overall tariff rate.

"Missionary electrification"

Department of Energy (DoE) Undersecretary Cyrill C. del Callar last week said EPIRA has a mission to provide power to over 5,000 barangays still without electricity. He said around 100 households per villages would benefit from the power act.

The energy official said power utilities planning to supply power to rural areas not covered by the government's rural electrification program could ask for missionary charge and this should be included in the new unbundling system provided by EPIRA. Del Callar said as of now, there are 440 applications for unbundling waiting ERC's approval and these applications carry the item for missionary charge.

In last week's forum sponsored by the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reform (Nasecore) at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, del Callar clarified that the missionary fees collected by the national government and Meralco was nothing new since it has been collected from the consumers for decades ahead of EPIRA.

The DoE reiterated that the privatization of power industry is key to restructuring of the energy sector as the government sets its sight on the renegotiation of the 35 contracts entered with independent power producers.  

The energy department also said the obligations of electric cooperatives to the national government will be condoned under the 5- to 10-year rehabilitation plan as stressed in Executive Order 1l9 signed by President Arroyo.

The DoE also said under EPIRA, rates were reduced in Luzon by an average of 60 centavos per kWh, close to P1 per kWh in Visayas and 40 centavos in Mindanao. Twenty eight electric cooperatives slashed rates by an average of 3 centavos recently, DoE also said.

Consumers frustrated

But consumer groups continue to belie government's assertions about the  benefits of EPIRA. In another statement sent to Bulatlat.com, the consumer alliance Alerto Mamimili said it was frustrated with energy law which President Arroyo called a piece of legislation with a lot of promise.

"When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo fast-tracked the EPIRA in 2001, consumers were promised lower electric bills. After two years, electricity rates are still increasing. Consumers are getting frustrated and angry," said Lolita Donato, spokesperson of the group.

Alerto Mamimili and the women's group Gabriela held a noise barrage and participated in the Lights Out called by the group People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates (POWER) last June 26. Residents of the community enthusiastically participated in the protest.

"People, especially the urban poor, are sick and tired of the government's neglect of their basic interests. Such active participation only goes to show that they are willing to join protest actions to shake the inutile Macapagal-Arroyo government into its senses," Lights Out organizers said.

One billion profit

Meralco officials said it is expecting a net profit of P1 billion this year reversing the P2 million revenue loss in March last year. In a press briefing last week, Meralco chief finance officer Daniel Tagaza said sales volumes rose to six percent this year.

He said sales projections this year include a three percent year-on-year increase in volume terms. Tagaza said Meralco wanted to cut its debts by 30 percent by 2006 from the end-2002 level of nearly 35 billion pesos.

But due to cash flow pressures as a result of the ongoing refund of overcharges, the Meralco official said, the company had asked its creditors to convert short-term debts amounting to P5.5 billion into a three-year loan to enable the utility giant to settle obligations from refund seeking customers.

Meralco said it already refunded a total of P1.19 billion to customers using 1 kWh to 100 kWh. It expects the refunds to cost a total of P30.5 billion. Bulatlat.com

Back to top

We want to know what you think of this article.