Huwebes, Oktubre 16, 2014

Emergency powers will NOT solve the real power crisis

Emergency powers will NOT solve the real power crisis
Oktubre 16, 2014 

Atty. Aaron Pedrosa
Secretary-General, SANLAKAS

The government-forecasted power crisis has triggered a frenzy in the officialdom to scamper for emergency powers as its solution. No less than President Benigno Aquino III now seeks congressional imprimatur through a joint resolution of both chambers –the Senate and House of Representatives – to abate an imminent shortage of electricity supply invoking Section 71 of Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001.

Under the same provision, the determination as to the existence of an “imminent shortage” of electricity supply is solely lodged on the Chief Executive who may then be empowered by Congress through a joint resolution to establish additional generating capacity to augment the expected power deficit.

This begs the question: Is there really a “power crisis” as a consequence of a significant lack of power supply? For even the head of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), Sen. Serge Osmena, declares that there is no power crisis.

According to the Energy Department’s projection a spike in demand from 8,717 MW for 2014 to 9,011 MW during the first half of 2015 will require an additional 400-500 MW generating capacity to absorb the increased power requirements in Luzon.

What is not explicitly explained to the public is that the shortfall will be due to the scheduled preventive maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya gas production facilities in March 2015. The shutdown will then set in motion the fall in electricity supply in Luzon. What the government intends to do is to rent out power barges and diesel generation sets at an estimated contract price of P14Billion for a two-year lease. This short-sighted approach does not address strategic problems plaguing a deregulated power industry. It at best diverts the public from two things: firstly, that the so-called power crisis is contrived; and secondly, it overshadows the real power crisis that has defined the industry for more than a decade now.

In the present set-up, energy officials, power producers and distribution utilities determine the demand and supply forecast for the power sector. This forecasting modality is usually based on a projected economic growth based on the demographics of a certain locality. The totality of these projections is embodied in the government’s Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) which paints a 30-year planning horizon. The forecasting in itself is an exclusive domain for power players and providers leaving out other stakeholders especially the consumers. No one can therefore contest the figures being fed to the public. On a parallel plane, the President’s determination of a power shortage by 2015 is one based on conjecture absent the substantiation of the power crisis being asserted by the administration.

To address the “power crisis”, other government officials offer short-term solutions such as accessing the 3,900 MW “embedded power” or idle power from private firms an arrangement which according to Rep. Reynaldo Umali will only cost the government P200M. Another proposal is the interruptible load program (ILP), a voluntary scheme which would entail a self-impose drop in consumption from participating firms such as malls, industries, among others. Yet, another proposal is the immediate repair of the Private Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM)-owned 650 Malaya thermal plant for it to yield an additional 300MW by 2015.

Truth be told, these proposals will never prosper for EPIRA dictates that government cannot provide itself greater stake in power generation. Rather, the overarching principles embodied in the EPIRA, directs the government to relinquish this to the private sector. Thus, the government abrogated its responsibility of providing for the power needs of the people in favour of corporations and private interest and now responds in the same fashion to address its self-declared power crisis, a crisis of its own making.

Completing the picture are twenty-six approved coal plant projects that will be built from now until 2020. With the recent setback experienced by the government with the issuance of a temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) against the 300 MW Redondo coal plant project, the grant of emergency powers will ensure that any legal challenge against these projects will be effortlessly warded off thus ultimately ensuring that the spadework for their construction will be unhampered and unchallenged. Twenty-six coal plants on top of the seventeen existing plants will lock in the country into coal dependence.

All these intramurals on the grant of emergency powers overshadow the real power crisis that has beset the sector for more than a decade now. To date, 2.7 million households remain without access to electricity; the country’s power rates are the most expensive in Asia and rank fifth in the world; market manipulation and collusion are at its worst with prices being manipulated in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), defying a cornerstone promise of EPIRA – of providing affordable and reliable electricity to the people. More than 13 years after EPIRA was passed, five families control the power industry.  

Emergency powers will only result in socializing more obligations that the government intends to pursue. To this day, we are paying for the take or pay provisions and sovereign guarantees extended by the Ramos Administration when it was granted emergency powers allowing it to enter into lopsided supply contracts with independent power producers. That burden will be augmented with the proposal to enter into contracts with private firms for the lease of their generation sets. It is the people who will in the end foot the bill.

To add insult, we are reduced to a more vulnerable state in the context of climate change with the approval of 26 privately owned coal plant projects. Coal plants are the greatest emitters of carbon dioxide whose heavy concentrations in the atmosphere drive climate change. Even as a country battered with the strongest typhoon in recorded history to make landfall, the Aquino Administration opts to look the other way, oblivious to the realities of climate change impacts experienced by countries like the Philippines which is among the most vulnerable to climate change.

The power crisis is bigger than a mere projected shortfall. It requires a solution that recognizes the failure of a paradigm that puts the burden of providing for our power needs in private hands. Emergency power is not the solution.

Repeal EPIRA Now!
Resist Coal!
Resist Emergency Powers!

Lunes, Setyembre 15, 2014

Groups Launch Resistance Movement vs. Noynoy Aquino

Kuha ni Omeng Abunda ng Sanlakas, 091514
Joint Press Release
15 September 2014

Reference:
Atty Aaron Pedrosa 0932-3643137
Sanlakas

Gie Relova 0915-2862555
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino


Groups Launch Resistance Movement vs. Aquino’s Emergency Powers, Cha-Cha, Term Extension and Attacks vs Supreme Court

“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty.” Atty Aaron Pedrosa, SANLAKAS Secretary General borrows a quote from Thomas Jefferson, as various groups and sectoral organizations gathered to launch a movement dubbed as “All Resist Movement” (ARM the People!).

Leaders of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). SANLAKAS, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralita sa Lunsod (KPML), Aniban ng Magsasaka sa Agrikultura (AMA), Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Transportasyon (PMT), Metro Manila Vendors Alliance (MMVA) and Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) took turns in lambasting President Noynoy Aquino’s request for a Joint Resolution from Congress that would grant him emergency powers to address a purported energy crisis in 2015.

Leody de Guzman, BMP President, added, “Two presidents invoked and used Emergency Powers: Fidel Ramos, when he used it and locked-in the country in IPP contracts that to this day the Filipino people are paying for in high electricity rates; and Gloria Arroyo, when she wielded emergency powers to preserve her fraudulently acquired presidency in the 2004 elections. During both times, emergency powers did not serve the people’s interest and welfare at all.”

“Why does he need Emergency Powers? The energy crisis is the result of EPIRA, a law that after over ten years of existence has proven to have failed in ensuring power supply and affordable electricity for the people, especially the masses. If Congress should act to resolve the crisis, it is should not be to give Noynoy emergency powers but to throw out EPIRA and pass a new law that gives back the control of the power industry to government.” decried Flora A. Santos of the Metro Manila Vendors Alliance.

“Connect the dots. From appropriating the powers of Congress to stop approved government projects, declaring these funds as “savings” in order to divert the funds into other projects, and the cross-border transfer of these funds to allies and prospective allies, his endorsement of ChaCha for the expressed purpose of clipping the powers of the Supreme Court, his innuendos towards term extension, and now, Aquino wants emergency powers. Doesn’t this smack of Marcosian rule?” Pedrosa pointed out.

The groups also opposed the Economic ChaCha, .spearheaded by House Speaker Sonny Belmonte. Sonny Melencio, PLM Chairman, described the move to insert the phrase “and as provided by law” towards allowing 100% foreign ownership in the Philippines as “an attempt to give foreign corporate interest a free pass to ravage the nation’s natural and human resources without any guarantees that it will benefit the entire populace and not only the factories in export processing zones and the residences of the propertied classes”.

While Aquino and his allies give foreign corporate interest carte blanche rights to plunder our economy, PNoy is going on his 4-European Nation 8-day Tour on a Filipino labor-pimping mission.”, added Gie Relova of BMP”.

“All of the Heads of State and corporate bosses that Aquino will talk to will find out how dirt cheap Filipino labor is and how contractualization has breached all industries in the country and that once the constitution is amended, it will make it even more profitable for capitalists to invest here, Relova said.

The All Resist Movement (ARM the People) which they described as a peoples’ crusade in response to Noynoy Aquino’s plans to further plunder the economy and extend his term in office by amending the constitution and utilizing special provisions that will grant him emergency powers.

The ARM the People campaign, as the militants articulated “is also the peoples’ response and resistance to the crude political maneuvers of Aquino and allies to secure their political survival in the 2016 elections by the continued practice of the pork barrel system”.

Pedrosa argued that, “After the striking down of the impeachment charges before the House, this call to arms is the logical step forward for an aggrieved and victimized nation to redress the four-year epic failure of the presidency of Aquino and the unabated neglect and misery of our people”.

ARM the People will be launched this coming week from the 16th onward with a series of mass actions to bring to Noynoy’s doorstep in Malacanang, to Congress, to the Senate the resistance of a people who will not allow corruption, injustice or tyranny to prevail.

On September 21, ARM the People will hold simultaneous protest actions at the grassroots level in various cities and municipalities in Metro Manila, and in major city centers in Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Tacloban, Davao City and Ozamiz City.#

All Resist Movement (ARM the People!), Inilunsad

Kuha ni Omeng Abunda ng Sanlakas, 091514
Joint Press Release
15 Setyembre 2014

Reference:
Gie Relova 0915-2862555
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino

Atty Aaron Pedrosa 0932-3643137
Sanlakas

Resistance Movement, Inilunsad ng iba’t ibang grupo laban sa Emergency Powers ni Aquino, Cha-Cha, Term Extension at Atake sa Korte Suprema

“Kapag naging batas ang inhustisya, tungkulin na nating makibaka.” Hiniram ni Atty. Aaron Pedrosa, Secretary General ng SANLAKAS, ang mga pananalitang ito kay Thomas Jefferson, habang nagtitipon ang iba’t ibang grupo at organisasyong sektoral sa paglulunsad ng isang kilusang tinawag nilang “All Resist Movement” (ARM the People!).

Kinutya ng mga lider ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP). SANLAKAS, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralita ng Lunsod (KPML), Aniban ng Magsasaka sa Agrikultura (AMA), Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Transportasyon (PMT), Metro Manila Vendors Alliance (MMVA), at Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) ang kahilingan ni Pangulong Noynoy Aquino sa kahilingan nitong Joint Resolution mula sa Kongreso na magbibigay sa kanya ng emergency power upang matugunan ang napipintong krisis sa enerhiya sa 2015.

Idinagdag pa ni Leody de Guzman, pangulo ng BMP, “Dalawang pangulo na ang naggiit at gumamit ng emergency power: si Fidel Ramos, nang ginamit niya ito at ipiniit ang bansa sa mga kontrata ng IPP na hanggang sa ngayon, nagbabayad ang mamamayang Pilipino ng napakataas na presyo ng kuryente; at si Gloria Arroyo, nang ginamit niya ang emergency power upang mapanatili sa kanyang nakuha-sa-dayang pangkapangulo noong halalang 2004. Sa dalawang panahong iyon, hindi nakapagsilbi sa kapakanan at kagalingan ng mamamayan ang emergency power.”

“Bakit niya kailangan ng emergency power? Ang krisis sa enerhiya ang resulta ng EPIRA, isang batas na makalipas ang mahigit sampung taon ay patunay ng pagkabigong matiyak ang suplay sa kuryente at abotkayang elektrisidad para sa mamamayan, lalo na sa mga maliliit. Kung kikios ang Kongreso para maresolba ang krisis, ito’y hindi ang bigyan ng emergency power si Noynoy kundi ibasura ang EPIRA at magpasa ng bagong batas na magbabalik sa pamahalaan ng kontrol sa industriya ng kuryente,” puna ni Flora A. Santos ng Metro Manila Vendors Alliance.

“Ikonekta natin ang mga tuldok. Mula sa paglalaan ng kapangyarihan ng Kongreso upang matigil ang mga aprubadong proyekto ng gobyerno, na idinedeklrarang “ipon” o “savings” ang mga pondong ito upang mailipat ang mga pondo sa ibang proyekto, at ang mga paglilipat ng mga pondong ito sa mga alyadao at inaasahang alyado, ang kanyang pag-endorso sa ChaCha para sa adhikain niyang mabawasan ang kapangyarihan ng Korte Suprema, ang mga pasaring niya sa pagpapalawig ng termino, at ngayon, nais ni Aquino ng emergency power. Hindi ba ito isang paggaya sa pamamahala ni Marcos?” pagdidiin pa ni Pedrosa.

Laban din ang mga nasabing grupo sa Economic ChaCha, na pinangungunahan ni House Speaker Sonny Belmonte. Inilarawan ni Sonny Melencio, pangulo ng PLM, ang kilos upang ipasok ang pariralang “and as provided by law” hinggil sa pagpayag sa 100% pag-aari ng dayuhan sa Pilipinas bilang “pagtatangkang bigyan ng libreng pases ang mga dayuhang korporasyon na was akin ang likas-yaman at lakas-paggawa ng bansa nang walang anumang katiyakan na ito’y magbibigay ng benepisyon sa buong mamamayan, at hindi lang sa mga pabrika sa export processing zones at sa mga tahanan ng uring maraming pag-aari”.

Habang binibigyan ni Aquino at kanyang mga alyado ang interes ng mga dayuhang korporasyon ng blangkong karapatang mandambong sa ating ekonomya, patungo naman si PNoy sa kanyang walong araw na pagdalaw sa apat na bansa sa Europa upang ibugaw ang manggagawang Pilipino.” Dagdag ni Gie Relova ng BMP.

“Lahat ng mga Pinuno ng Estado at mga boss na kapitalista na kinakausap ni Aquino ay malalaman kung gaano kamura ang lakas-paggawa ng manggagawang Pilipino, at paanong dumaragsa ang kontratwalisasyon sa lahat ng industriya sa bansa, at kapag naamyendahan ang konstitusyon, lalo pang magkakamal ng tubo ang mga kapitalistang magnenegosyo rito,” dagdag pa ni Relova.

Ang All Resist Movement (ARM the People) na inilarawan nilang krusada ng taumbayan bilang tugon sa plano ni Aquino na patuloy pang dambungin ang ekonomya at palawigin ang kanyang termino sa pwesto sa pamamagitan ng pag-amyenda sa konstitusyon at paggamit ng mga ispesyal na probisyon na magbibigay sa kanya ng mga emergency power.

Ang kampanyang ARM the People, na ipinaliliwanag ng mga militante “ang siya ring tugon ng sambayanan at paglaban sa baluktot na maniobrang pulitikal ni Aquino at ng kayang mga kaalyado upang matiyak ang kanilang pulitikal na pananatili sa halalang 2016 sa pamamagitan ng patuloy na paggamit ng sistemang pork barrel”.

Iginiit pa ni Pedrosa, “Matapos na mabasura ang mga impeachment charges sa Mababang Kapulungan, ang panawagang pag-aarmas na ito ang lohikal na hakbang pasulong para sa inapi’t biniktimang bansa upang tugunan ng apat-na-taong pagkabigo ng pagkapangulo ni Aquino at ang patuloy na pagbalewala at karukhaan ng ating mamamayan”.

Ilulunsad ang ARM the People sa susunod na linggo mula sa ika-16 sa pamamagitan ng serye ng mga aksyong masa upang madala sa tarangkahan ni Noynoy sa MalacaƱang, sa Kongreso, sa Senado ang pakikibaka ng taumbayang hindi pumapayag sa katiwalian, inhustisya o tiranya na manatili.

Sa Setyembre 21, maglulunsad ng sari-saring pagkilos sa antas ng masa ang ARM the People sa iba’t ibang lungsod at bayan sa Metro Manila, at sa mga mayor na sentrong lungsod sa Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Tacloban, Lungsod ng Davao at Lungsod ng Ozamiz.#

Lunes, Agosto 25, 2014

Sigaw sa Mendiola at Luneta: Pork Abolition, Hindi Term Extension at ChaCha!

Sigaw sa Mendiola at Luneta: Pork Abolition, Hindi Term Extension at ChaCha!

Agosto 25, 2014 - Madaling araw pa lang ng Lunes ay nasa Mendiola na ang mga kasapi ng SANLAKAS, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lungsod (KPML), Metro Manila Vendors Alliance (MMVA), Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO), Piglas-Kabataan, at Teatro Proletaryo. Bandang ikapito ng umaga ay dumating naman ang Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), UP KAISA, at iba pa.

Sa saliw ng ChaCha, at ng awiting "Kung alam mo lang, Bayan" (rendisyon ng awiting "Kung Alam Mo Lang, Violy" ni Gary Granada), nagsayaw ang mga kasapi ng Teatro Proletaryo sa Mendiola, bandang ikaanim ng umaga. Ito'y bahagi ng kanilang protesta laban sa pork barrel at term extension na balak ni Pangulong Noynoy Aquino kaya nais nitong magkaroon ng ChaCha o Charter Change.

Bandang ikasiyam ng umaga ay nagmartsa na sila patungo sa Quirino Grandstand upang makiisa sa mas malawak na pagtitipon ng sambayanan. Idinaos sa Luneta ang aktibidad na "Stand Up! Sign Up!" o "Manindigan at Lumagda" laban sa pakanang term extension ng pamahalaang Aquino.

Ulat at mga litrato ni Greg Bituin Jr.

Huwebes, Agosto 21, 2014

Noynoy, Pinayuhang Tularan ang Bayaning si Ninoy, hindi ang diktador na si Marcos

Noynoy, Pinayuhang Tularan ang Bayaning si Ninoy, hindi ang diktador na si Marcos

Kasabay ng ika-31 anibersaryo ng pagpaslang kay dating Senador Ninoy Aquino, nag-alay ng bulaklak sa monumento ni Ninoy sa Quezon Avenue, corner Timog Ave., ang mga kasapi ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), SANLAKAS, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lungsod (KPML), Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), Piglas-Kabataan (PK), at Teatro Proletaryo. Dito'y pinuri nila ang kabayanihan ni Ninoy dahil sa kanyang malaking ambag laban sa diktaduryang Marcos. Kasabay nito'y kinutya naman ng nasabing mga grupo ang balak ng anak ni Ninoy na si Pangulong Noynoy Aquino na amyendahan ang Saligang Batas at palawigin ang kanyang termino sa pagkapangulo.

Nagpahayag naman ang dalawang beterano ng martial law na sina Tita Flor Santos ng Sanlakas, at Nick Elman ng Workers Alliance Against Corruption. Si Gie Relova, sec gen ng BMP-NCRR, ang siyang tagapagpadaloy ng programa. Inawit naman ng Teatro Proletaryo, na may saliw na sayaw, ang kanilang bersyon ng "Kung alam mo lang, Violy" ni Gary Granada, na pinamagatan nilang "Kung alam mo lang, Ninoy".

Matapos ang programa sa munumento ni Ninoy ay nagmartsa na ang nasabing mga grupo patungo sa Times Street, kung saan naroon ang bahay ni PNoy. May harang na sa kalsadang papasok ng Times Street kaya doon na lamang nagprograma ang nasabing mga grupo. At muli ay ipinalabas ng Teatro Proletaryo ang kanilang sayaw at awiting "Kung alam mo lang, Ninoy". Naging tagapagsalita sa programa sina Ka Ronnie Luna ng BMP, at Rasti Delizo ng Sanlakas.

Ulat at mga litrato ni Greg Bituin Jr.