Power Play for a Power Grab of the Power Sector?

In an effort to appease a public in Metro Manila crushed by unstable jobs and livelihoods, constantly increasing prices of basic commodities and ever rising power and water bills despite tightly managed consumption, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called on MERALCO to decrease its rates. For this purpose she directed the Department of Trade and Industry to file an omnibus petition with the ERC.

While the action is welcome and in fact long overdue, we are wary of the timing and motives behind this order. Mrs. Arroyo is under pressure to resign from office in the face of serious allegations of corruption and evilness. And if we are to believe the scuttlebutt, her family has more than a foothold in the power sector. For these reasons we question the offensive on MERALCO as a sinister attempt to consolidate her family's stake in the power sector in the guise of a desperate attempt to gain some public sympathy.

Lest we forget the Arroyo family now has a sizable influence in TRANSCO, courtesy of the recently questionable winning bid of Monte Oro Grid Resources for the transmission monopoly. Diosdado "Buboy" Macapagal, the President's brother, is closely affiliated with Walter Brown, one of the owners of Monte Oro. Another stakeholder, Enrique Razon, is a close friend of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and the treasurer of the administration's Team Unity in the senatorial campaign last year.

Ownership and control of the national transmission grid is highly lucrative and very strategic. It can be used to favor one generator over another, to favor loyal supporters over critics. While transmission is regulated by the ERC, let us not forget it is Mrs. Arroyo who appoints the ERC Commissioners and that Congressman Mikey Arroyo heads the Energy Committee of the House of Representatives. This is rent-seeking of the highest order.

We remain critical of MERALCO's high electricity rates and denounce the practice of the Lopezes of favoring affiliated IPPs even when cheaper electricity is available. We have long maintained that Metro Manila consumers rightfully own MERALCO. This however does not mean that we condone a power grab by a power hungry and infinitely greedy Arroyo family.

The Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) was one of the first laws signed by Mrs. Arroyo in 2001. Like the ZTE deal, she knew it was flawed but she signed it nevertheless. Unlike the ZTE deal, the EPIRA has been in effect for the past seven years and has resulted in 15 rate hikes instead of the promised cheaper electricity. The onerous IPP contracts were reviewed and found to be onerous, but not renegotiated. And now the flaws are being used to the advantage of Mrs. Arroyo and her cabal.

The Freedom from Debt Coalition vehemently condemns this.

We reiterate our call for affordable electricity and for a new energy law that does not contribute to global warming and that recognizes consumers as equal partners in the sector. We will pursue our vision of an environmentally sustainable, accountable and democratic power sector in a post-Arroyo scenario.

 

Debt activists to Ombudsman Gutierrez: Too late the hero

"Too late for heroic acts."

 

This was the statement issued by the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and the Youth Against Debt (YAD) concerning Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez's decision to inhibit herself from the investigation of alleged anomalies surrounding the government's aborted $329.48-million National Broadband Network project with China's ZTE Corp.

 

Describing it as an act of hypocrisy to save an irredeemably corrupt and inept institution, the groups said the latest act of Gutierrez will not salvage the image and the reputation of the Ombudsman as a venue of Malacanang's spin masters to whitewash cases of anomalies and corruption involving Mrs. Arroyo and her family.

 

"Though we welcome Ombudsman Gutierrez's decision to inhibit herself from the investigation, the Office of the Ombudsman remains morally weak—lacking the needed integrity to search for truth and accountability," FDC Secretary-General Milo Tanhuling said.

 

"The people are not gullible. Just because Gutierrez defaulted from the case, it does not automatically mean this institution can provide us with genuine justice and political clarity. Its long history of inaction and of being fence sitters amid rampant graft and corruption is phenomenal," Tanchuling said.

 

"Unless this office is cleansed of Mrs. Arroyo's apologists, the Ombudsman cannot be trusted in providing justice," Tanchuling said

 

FDC scored the institution's continued inaction on other cases involving Palace "cronies," such as former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante's involvement in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam allegedly meant to divert fertilizer funds for then presidential bet Gloria Arroyo's campaign kitty in 2004.

 

"Instead we call for the establishment of an independent body without any connection with Malacanang that will immediately audit and investigate all loan-financed government contracts beginning with the suspended ZTE-NBN deal and other projects implicated in the Lozada testimony," Tanchuling said.

 

For their part, YAD spokesperson Bianca Lapuz said the ZTE-NBN deal is just the tip of the iceberg. "There are more of these illegitimate projects hidden from public scrutiny, irresponsibly entered into by our government which in turn becomes illegitimate debts which will be shouldered by an already debt-burdened people," Lapuz said.

 

 The youth group demands the suspension of other illegitimate projects pending their investigation starting with the $400-million Cyber Education Project (CEP), the $503-million North Luzon Railways Project and the $884-million South Luzon Railways Project.

 

FDC and YAD are also calling for a comprehensive audit of all public debt and all policies, regulations and laws that govern public borrowings, including the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law, the practice of extending sovereign guarantees and the resulting contingent liabilities.

 

Arroyo urged not to veto debt service cuts

Debt and environmental watchdogs ask government to prioritize health and environment over debt service payments in 2008 budget

13 February 2008, Quezon City.   As the Senate inquiry on the NBN-ZTE scandal sizzles, civil society groups assembled in front of a government hospital in Quezon City to draw attention to another illegitimate debt and to oppose any presidential veto of the P25.9 billion debt service cuts in the 2008 budget.

Members of the EcoWaste Coalition and the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) peaceably assembled at the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) to urge the Arroyo administration to desist from vetoing the crucial cuts in debt servicing that will allow the people to enjoy the benefits of increased spending on health and other essential services.

To dramatize the need to prioritize the people's health over unconscionable debt payments, especially of illegitimate debts, the combined force of the "green warriors" and the "debt warriors" put up hospital beds complete with volunteer patients outside the PHC and staged a mock blood transfusion to depict the life-sustaining benefits of cutting onerous debt payments.

"An executive veto of the budget cuts in debt servicing or the reported 'calibrated spending,' which is a de facto veto, will have insidious effects in the efficient and effective delivery of health care and other essential social services.  We urge the government to prioritize the health and other basic needs of the people and put a stop to all debt payments that have not benefited the people, the economy and the environment," said actor – environmental advocate Roy Alvarez, Vice-Chairperson, EcoWaste Coalition.

The groups found an ally in Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, Jr. who, in a text message, said that "the debt service cuts in the 2008 budget can change and uplift the lives of millions with the realignment of funds for basic social services.  I join the civil society in urging the executive branch to heed the people's clamor for relief and release from indebtedness, particularly from tainted and illegitimate debts.  The government has to make courageous decisions to correct the gross injustice, including the need to repudiate some of these debts." Bishop  Iñiguez chairs the Public Affairs Committee of the influential Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Both the EcoWaste Coalition and FDC are particularly opposed to the continued payment for 26 defunct medical waste incinerators in government-run hospitals that our country imported under a development package signed in 1997 by the governments of Austria and the Philippines.  The waste burners were retired in 2003 to conform to the phase out of medical waste incinerators under the Clean Air Act. The Philippines, which started to pay for the loan's principal in 2002, will have to pay US$2 million annually until 2014 unless the debt is canceled or repudiated.

The groups lamented that the controversial loan package not only resulted to a US$2 million per year debt burden, but also endangered the health of Filipinos with the release of extremely toxic pollutants such as dioxins, the most notorious byproducts of burning garbage and reportedly the most toxic chemical known to science.

Visayas green groups denounce communist-tagging by military, call on city officials to condemn Army statement

In a statement sent to the media, Iloilo environmental and citizens groups opposed to the proposed coal plant strongly denounce the statements made by Captain Lowen Gil Marquez of the Philippine Army for branding them communist front organizations.

"While we do not want to give credence to this shallow red-baiting reminiscent of the Marcos years, we want to register our disgust to this evidently counter-productive effort by the AFP.  This is a scary precedent.  It, not only defeats the very objective of public hearings which is to involve the public, but in the bigger picture it is in contradiction to the very essence of democracy," the groups stressed in the statement.      

 

"Captain Marquez is grossly irresponsible. This is brazen coercion in an attempt to intimidate groups that are concerned with the health and environmental impacts of the coal-fired power plant." Melvin Purzuelo of the Green Forum - Western Visayas said.

"What this AFP officer is saying is that the active participation of the citizens in the discourse for alternative sources of energy and the protection of the environment is equivalent to rebellion or insurgency. This same officer, by the way, has sworn to protect the Philippine constitution and defend the rights of its people," their statement added.      

 

Purzuelo further underscored that the AFP is mandated to be neutral in the whole EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) process so why is the Army endorsing the project "as pro-people" when the DENR has yet to determine the possible health and environmental impacts of the proposed project?

Civil society organizations intends to file a case with the Environmental Courts against the Armed Forces of the Philippines for endorsing the proposed coal-fired power plant in Iloilo City. "The endorsement of an environmentally critical project in a very critical regional urban center is a flagrant violation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process."

"Marquez is conditioning the people who are against the coal-fired power plant not to participate in the February 15, 2008 Public Hearing. If it is not the official policy of the AFP to endorse projects undergoing the EIA process then we will ask the Philippine Army for a summary investigation of Marquez' irresponsible actions," Purzuelo added.

"If this government is really serious in involving the people on important matters affecting our region then we call on our public officials to strongly condemn this clear case of harassment meant to intimidate the public from exercising their rights to expression and performing their civic duties.  We are challenging these officials to stand up against the AFP's red-scare tactics and for freedom of expression," the groups' statement ended.

 

Professional, Church-based, transport, youth and non-governmental organizations have submitted positions papers against the coal-fired power plant.

 

Lozada lauded for his courage in revealing the truth about ZTE-NBN deal

BLOWING their whistles in support of national broadband network project
whistle blower Rodolfo Noel "Jun" Lozada Jr., members of the Freedom from
Debt Coalition today staged a protest action in front of the Senate
condemning the alleged role of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo in the
controversial deal.

Former House Representative and now FDC vice president Etta Rosales lauded
Lozada for his courage in revealing what he knows about the involvement of
former Commission on Election chair Benjamin Abalos and Mrs. Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo's husband in the $329-million ZTE-NBN deal.

"The ZTE-NBN deal is a glaring example of how the government conducts its
business concerning billions of dollars at the expense of the taxpayers who
will shoulder the burden of footing the overpriced bill. Jun Lozada is right
in saying that this deal is 'one transactional example of a dysfunctional
government procurement' system," said Rosales.

In his press conference Wednesday morning at the De La Salle Greenhills,
Lozada revealed that when he left the project in January 18, 2007, the deal
was only worth $262 million. The following month, the Office of the
President issued an executive order transferring the Telos, the implementing
agency of the NBN project, under the Department of Transportation and
Communication. After two months, Lozada was surprised to learn that the
project was approved at $329 million, not through the originally planned
build-operate-transfer scheme but through a loan from China.

Lozada also narrated how Chairman Abalos threatened to have him killed
because the then COMELEC official wanted to protect his $130 million
commission from the project.

"Lozada was allegedly asked by NEDA chief Romulo Neri to 'moderate their
greed'. Indeed, this case has clearly exposed the rapacity that has become
the hallmark of this Arroyo administration and its officials. Enough is
enough!" exclaimed the former activist lawmaker.

"We fought for the cancellation of this overpriced project after Joey De
Venecia exposed the anomalies involved, because just like its analog
predecessor, the Telepono sa Barangay, it has the potential of becoming a
'white elephant' project," said Rosales.

"The ZTE-NBN deal could be Mrs. Arroyo's waterloo. We just hope that nothing
bad will happen to Jun Lozada and his family for breaking the code of omerta
regarding this anomalous deal," stressed Rosales.

Lozada committed an act of valor and integrity, not destabilization

Rep. Risa Hontiveros said that dismissing Lozada's explosive
statement as an attempt to destabilize the country would not do,
saying that what Lozada divulged lays accountability on the NBN deal
at the doorstep of Malacanang.

"What he said corroborates previous testimonies made by Joey De
Venecia and Sec. Romulo Neri, making these allegations of corruption
involving the NBN deal a sticky and unbearable truth for the Arroyo
family," Rep. Hontiveros said. "Dismissing it would not do and we must
be able to identify who is ultimately accountable for this
controversy. The Arroyo family should face the music to put a closure
to this issue."

She lauded Lozada for his bravery and sense of integrity. "The
strongest critique that any decent Filipino could do in light of a
government known for the basest form of fraud and corruption is to
stand up for truth and justice. The symbol of Filipino integrity and
valor is not carried by high officials, certainly not those in
Malacañang, but by people like Lozada. We hope that he would be
steadfast and unforgiving in this journey to unearth the truth behind
the NBN anomaly," Rep. Hontiveros said.

The deputy minority leader, meanwhile, chastised the Office of the
Ombudsman for sitting on a case filed by AKBAYAN against former
COMELEC Chair Benjamin Abalos. She warned that Abalos might go into
hiding, especially with Lozada's account on Abalos' role in the
controversial deal.

"We fear that Abalos would do a Bedol to evade these charges," Rep.
Hontiveros said.

"It has been four months since the criminal charges against Abalos was
filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, and nothing has happened
since then. This delay is not only unacceptable, it also fuels
suspicion that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is out to protect
someone," Rep. Hontiveros said.

"Once Lozada makes his testimony formal before the Senate Ribbon
Committee, we would consider using it to supplement our complaint
against Abalos," she said. "However, the Ombudsman doesn't even have
to wait for Lozada's testimony to act on the complaint. The statements
made by Sec. Romulo Neri and Joey De Venecia are enough to hold Abalos
accountable."

On October 9, 2007, Deputy minority leader and AKBAYAN Rep. Risa
Hontiveros charged Abalos for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt
Practices Act (RA 3019), Revised Penal Code, and the Code of Conduct
and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713).
She earlier called for Ombudsman Gutierrez to inhibit herself from the
case to ensure that it would be independent and quick.

Policy change needed for energy crisis solution

As expected, the Energy Summit did not offer any real or lasting solutions to the problems facing the oil and power sectors.

The proposed summit recommendations—revisiting the nuclear power option and more foreign and private investments in the whole energy sector — like the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and Oil Deregulation Law that preceded it — will only exacerbate already serious problems therein.

Likewise, proposals to lift or suspend the value-added tax (VAT) on oil and power and the scrapping of oil deregulation law are more likely to be junked by a panel of experts the energy department has assembled over the weekend at the Asian Development Bank to finalize the summit’s resolutions.

The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) believes that without changing the paradigm and current policies of the government, the summit’s resolutions will end up as mere palliatives to a chronic crisis.

The Coalition is pushing for the lifting of VAT on oil and power and the cancellation of onerous independent power producer (IPP) contracts to significantly reduce the cost of fuel and power in the country. It is also for the scrapping of the oil deregulation and EPIRA law to restore and strengthen the role of the State and communities in the oil and power industry.

Moreover, FDC is fighting for a paradigm that recognizes the crucial importance of renewable energy, environmentally sustainable technology, community participation and control – a paradigm we believe, is beyond the imagination of the Arroyo government, global capital, international financial institutions (IFIs) and the threat of climate change. The use of fossil fuel such as oil is the biggest factor behind climate change.

Clearly, what manifested during the week-long summit is the ‘solid defense’ put up by the government, IFIs such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank, and the oil and utility giants in blocking proposals to overhaul the ‘fundamentals’ – the deregulation and privatization policies which made the costs of oil and power one of the highest in the world.

Prices of oil rose by more than 500 percent since the passage of the Oil Deregulation Law in 1998. Pump prices was up P4 per liter further when Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo imposed VAT on petroleum products. Electricity rates, on the other hand, had doubled since EPIRA was enacted in 2001. The IFIs were all behind the crafting as well as the financing of these policy reforms in the oil and power industry. ADB loans in the country’s energy sector for the last 30 years (1978 to 2008), for instance, is already around $2.8 billion.

We know the days of cheap oil are over. But we also know that these days, transnational oil and power companies are enjoying super profits that the so called reforms in power and oil sectors have advanced rather than controlled.

The Arroyo government has decided to align itself with global capital rather than with ordinary and struggling consumers, in an unholy alliance blessed by the IFIs. We are condemned to ever rising oil and power prices, with little or no prospects of immediate relief and lasting long-term solutions to make life more bearable particularly for the least advantaged.

New POEA guidelines on "direct hiring" is anti-migrant worker

The Philippine Overseas Employment  Administration (POEA) issued its new guidelines on direct hiring of Filipino  migrant workers on 18 December 2007 effective 15 January this year. 
 
 The Filipino Community Services and  Information Network (FILCOMSIN), an alliance of 40 Filipino migrant worker  organizations in Hong Kong, oppose the  guidelines on the following grounds:
   
These new guidelines are a    resurrected version of the POEA Memorandum Circular 41 issued in 1994 banning    the direct hiring of Filipino migrant workers for abroad.  The Filipino migrant workers community    in Hong Kong vigorously opposed the ban then    because it was against the interests of countless Filipino migrant workers who    were benefiting from the direct hire scheme. In 2001, the migrant-led campaign    against the ban successfully forced the Philippine government to revoke its    implementation in Hong Kong through the DOLE    Order 11, Series of 2001.  We    believe that the conditions that motivated the Filipino migrant community in    Hong Kong  to campaign against the banning of    direct hires have not changed. The new restrictions directly contravene the    DOLE revocation of the banning of direct hiring in Hong    Kong. We see no justification for these new restrictions on    direct hiring now being imposed by the Philippine government.   
  
    
The Philippine government¡¦s claim    that the new restrictions contained in these new Guidelines on direct hiring    will provide greater protection for Filipino migrant workers is old empty    rhetoric and holds no promise for us.  Abuses and exploitation of Filipino    migrant workers persist because of the deregulation of the labor export    industry by the government to protect the interests of profiteering    recruitment agencies and other allied businesses.  These business interests and the    government are totally dependent on one another and will never put the    interests of the migrant workers ahead of theirs. 
 
Time and time again, the government  justifies its new rulings and guidelines in the name of our rights and interests  as Filipino migrant workers.  In  actual fact , not only have these instruments not made any real impact on our  lives, they have legitimized   extractions of new  revenues  for the government and profits for recruitment and placement agencies at our  expense.
 
The POEA 2006 Guidelines on  Household Service Workers (HSW) is a classic example. We have been made to  believe that the no placement  fee  policy under these guidelines is in the best interest of Filipino domestic  workers going abroad.  Information  being gathered by Filipino migrant rights advocates groups in Hong Kong after  the new policy was introduced overwhelmingly shows  that  a typical outbound domestic worker now  pays an average of 10 to 12,000 pesos for training fees on top of placement fees  amounting to 90 to 100,000 pesos which Hong Kong-based placement agencies  continue to charge and share with their Philippine recruiters. Fully aware of  the charges being extracted from domestic workers despite its no placement fee  policy, the Philippine government is now saying that it has no jurisdiction over  Hong Kong companies who are overcharging ¡V an  obvious point raised by many when the policy was first introduced. Meanwhile,  the charging of training fees by training centers run by  private recruitment agencies has surged  ahead and without any scrutiny and accountability by the POEA and its sister  agency, TESDA.  
 
 We are convinced that the new  guidelines on direct hire are bound to follow the same pattern.   The imposition of a US$ 5000 repatriation  bond and US$ 3000 performance bond is a new form of extraction which will have  even further negative effects on Filipino migrant workers.  These new requirements are likely to lead  to a number of scenarios:  
 
 a) employers  will pass on the charges to the workers
 b) employers  will recruit via the private recruitment agencies instead of going through the  hassles of  the direct hire scheme  under the new guidelines.  The  migrant workers will be at the losing end once again. They will be deprived of  an opportunity to be recruited with less or without costs on their part under  the previous direct hire arrangement.
 c) employers  will recruit somewhere else which would mean less job opportunities for us and  would expose prospective migrants in dire economic situation and desperate to  find work abroad  to illegal  recruitment and to overcharging private agencies.    
 
 3. The absence of any reference to  the implications of the new guidelines on ¡¥direct hires¡¦ whose papers are in  process confirms the government¡¦s ill-thought policy-making processes and  insensitivity towards these affected migrant workers.
 
 In conclusion, FILCOMSIN demands  that the Philippine government scrap the new POEA guidelines on direct  hire.  We further demand that the  government maintain DOLE  Order NO.  11, series of 2001. 
 
 We hold the Department of Labor and  its agencies, POEA and TESDA,   accountable for the continuing extraction of fees from Filipino domestic  workers by placement agencies in destination countries and by Philippine  training agencies in cahoots with Philippine recruitment agencies.