Satur's solution to power mess: sack Reyes, repeal EPIRA

Press Release
By MAKABAYAN
February 22, 2010

MANILA  –  Makabayan senatorial bet and Nationalista Party guest candidate Satur Ocampo today proposed a two-step solution to the current power mess – fire Energy Sec. Angelo Reyes and repeal the law deregulating the power sector.

"As a first step, the President should fire Sec. Angelo Reyes for his incompetence and his failure to uphold the interests of consumers against the big power and oil firms," Ocampo said.

"We don't need an energy secretary that doubles as a spokesperson for big oil and power monopolies. We need a new secretary who upholds the people's interests," he said, adding: "From day one Reyes did not nothing but ensure that the oil cartel and the power monopolies continued to rake in super profits at the expense of the consumers and the public good. Reyes should have been sacked long ago."

Ocampo also said that experts need not look far for solutions to the problems besetting the electricity sector. He called for the repeal of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) as a necessary step.

"EPIRA institutionalized the onerous IPP (independent power producer) contracts of the Ramos administration and delivered the energy sector on a silver platter to private monopolies. EPIRA enables the government to wash its hands of the responsibility of providing the public with affordable and efficient electricity service," he stressed.

Said Ocampo: "Government should not abdicate its strategic role in ensuring cheap and abundant power. Napocor should be cleansed of corrupt officials and made to be the country's leading power producer. In this way we can achieve scale and ensure transparency and accountability in the energy sector."

Ocampo said that before EPIRA, the generation and distribution of electricity were a government service – "There was still the potential for the industry to be an instrument in increasing national productivity and building economic progress. It was after EPIRA that that electricity rates in the Philippines became the highest in Asia."

“Proponents of deregulation and privatization promised the public that these were the solution to lower power rates. The exact opposite has happened."