APEC Party-List Representative and Assistant Minority Leader Sergio Dagooc of the Power Bloc held a press conference on Wednesday, 25 January, to secure the assistance of the national and local governments in the proposed plan of the National Power Corporation (NPC) to curtail the operating hours of the plants in areas served by its Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) starting March 1.

Under Sec. 70 of RA 9136 of 2001 or EPIRA, the NPC, thru the SPUG, is tasked “to perform the missionary electrification function and shall be responsible for providing power generation and its associated power delivery systems in areas that are not connected to the transmission system.”

According to the solon, on January 4, the NPC issued a communication to affected electric cooperatives under SPUG areas the plan to decrease the operational hours of the power plants attributed to the fuel supply shortage and delays in the payment of the Universal Cost for Missionary Electrification (UCME).

The electric cooperatives that rely on SPUG plants have no access to the main grid, and therefore, have no other alternative source of electricity to supply to their consumers.

The General Appropriations Act for FY 2023 has allocated an amount of 6.8 Billion (6,886,431,000.00) for the Production of Goods of NPC, which NPC uses for purchase of fuel to supply the SPUGs nationwide. However, based on NPC data, they would need around 3.8 Billion (3,883,000,000.00) of additional funds for the fuel supply.

AML Dagooc already proposed during the budget deliberation for FY 2023 for the augmentation of the NPC budget allocated for Fuel to no avail.

On Monday, 23 January, the Power Bloc also filed House Resolution No. 707 to investigate the impending plan of the NPC to reduce the number of operating hours of power plants in SPUG areas that would result to a power supply crisis and to intervene and aid the NPC to augment their budget allocation for fuel for FY 2023.
The resolution has yet to be taken up at the Committee level.

AML demands for an immediate action as this will potentially affect 22.5 million Filipino consumers from 158 municipalities, 21 cities scattered around the 32 island provinces, 14 in Luzon, 10 in Visayas, and 8 in Mindanao.

“Ang pakay namin ay para lang maiparating sa mga kinauukulan natin na yung kuryente ngayon, hindi na po luxury ‘yan, essential na po ‘yan. Kawawa naman po ‘yung mga maaapektuhan, kaya kailangan pong trabahuin ng ating pamahalaan at ng mga concerned government agencies na masuplayan po ang pangangailangan sa kuryente.” AML Dagooc said.

This was echoed by Representative Leody Tarriela whose constituents in Occidental Mindoro are already suffering from the power shortage since last year.

“Ang sabi nga nila doon sa probinsya, maski mahal ang kuryente, basta mayroon, amenable sila. Because the most expensive electricity is no electricity at all,” Rep. Tarriela said.

Rep. Tarriela also emphasized the need for cooperation among the energy sector and fellow lawmakers to aid NPC in resolving this crisis.

“Tayo ay magtutulungan, kung kailangang mag-dayalogo tayo, ang NPC, ang NEA, mag-brainstorming kung paano natin gagawin na magkaroon ng sapat na pondo ang National Power Corporation para po matugunan itong problema ng kuryente; hindi lang po ang aming lalawigan na Occidental Mindoro, kundi ang buong lalawigan na nakakaranas ngayon ng brownout lalong-lalo na po ‘yung tinatawag nating island provinces,” Rep. Tarriela concluded. ###

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PRESS CONFERENCE: https://fb.watch/ii_M4Fgmma/