By Danilo p. Padua, PhD
There is again an impending energy crisis in the country. The 10-hour blackout last Oct 8, 2014 in practically the entire Baguio-La Trinidad area is a sure sign of such crisis. It’s like a dry run of the forthcoming real ones in 2015, when the ASEAN economic integration becomes a reality.
I don’t understand why energy crisis is a recurring problem in the Philippines. I can fathom when floods or typhoons or volcano eruptions are recurring. They are natural occurrences that we can hardly control. Energy supply, we can have control over that. Men of vision can deal with that but not those of myopic vision. When men at the energy helm or those who are in power could not see beyond the circle of their friends, and those friends are more interested to line up the gaping holes on their sides, then crisis is inevitable. People then will surely bear the ugly consequences of the greed and ineptitude of those who are supposed to serve.
The energy crisis almost always lead to financial crisis in the homes, in companies, in business communities, etc. The present situation is no exception. Whatever measure the government will take to remedy the prevailing problem, will involve with almost certainty, the increase in electricity prices leading to lower purchasing power of Juan de la Cruz.
The Philippines has now the highest electricity rates in Asia. It is six times higher than Myanmar, Thailand, India and China, about 5 times higher than Malaysia, and Indonesia; even three times higher than the USA and Taiwan, and almost twice higher than that of Japan and Singapore. This is a real indication of ineptness, lack of foresight or plain indifference to the plight of the ordinary Filipino.
I can commiserate with the parents who are trying everything they could to make ends meet. In many cases they fall short in their effort.
Electricity is a major component of production. When there is insecurity in electricity, business operations greatly suffer together with job generation. This is definitely well known to government functionaries, that’s why one wonders why uninterrupted, sustainable power supply is not always given priority in planning and implementation.
This May, 2014, about six power plants conked out simultaneously. That is unimaginable for someone who knows his job, or who cares for the consequences of such eventuality. I don’t know what our energy officials are doing but definitely they are caught sleeping on the job. The result of course was a lot of economic and opportunity losses.
This reminds me of my stay in Germany some years ago. I stayed there for one whole year and not a single minute was there any interruption of electricity supply. Somebody told me that they have three circuits that operate nationwide. When one circuit trips, the second circuit automatically turns on, meaning there is still another 3rd circuit on standby. All the while, the tripped circuit is frantically repaired as fast as possible. That is security. And about us? I can just imagine somebody saying that the concerned officials must complete their vacation first before attending to what is very urgent. Me first, is in effect.
The electricity insecurity is one reason why companies are pulling out from our shores and establishing operations elsewhere, despite our vaunted skilled labor force. It negates in real terms, our supposed advantage in our facility of the English language. That is also to say that we have a difficult time attracting foreign investments.
The looming energy crisis might force companies such as those in the Baguio Export Processing Zone to lay off manpower. It possibly means greater social problems to be attended to.
The Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 seem to be a failure, much like the Philippine Sports Commission. Some put it as a toothless piece of legislation.
Hopefully, the legislative initiatives of both houses of congress way back in 2012 will come into fruition but this time with enough teeth to bite. This should include the Solar Roofs Act-(Senate Bill No. 2751) by Senator Santiago, the Philippine Hydrogen Research and Development Center (SB No. 2593) by Senator Marcos, ocean and wind energy (SB 2618 and SB 2657) by Senator Trillanes, establishment of Solar Energy Development Authority (SB No. 1086) by former Senator Manny Villar and the Casino House Bill 5404 or the One Million Solar Roofs Act.
The above initiatives might need our concerted effort to push them. This is a very positive, meaningful action that we could espouse together.**
