Foreign chambers power stand scored

Enrile: Why buck changes in Epira?

BY DENNIS GADIL

SEN. Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday asked that officials of the Joint Foreign Chambers (JCP), the umbrella group for foreign investors, be called to explain their opposition to proposed changes in the Electric Power Reform Industry Act (Epira).

"Why are they against a bill that would benefit the poor power consumers?" Enrile said. "Who are these foreigners who can tell us what to do and not to do in our land?"

Enrile, who is sponsoring floor debates on the proposed changes to Epira, said he could tolerate the free expression of opinions but not intervention.

"I'm going to roast the heads of foreign chambers when they come here," he said.

Enrile, who chairs the Senate energy sub-committee handling Epira changes, said the foreign chambers did not present a position paper and their leaders did not make an appearance when the bill was under deliberation at the committee level.

Epira aims to reduce electricity rates, prevent monopolies in the generation and distribution side, and pave the way for a transparent electricity spot market.

Rising power rates have prompted the ongoing review of Epira, especially provisions on the "take or pay" contracts of the National Power Corp. with its independent power producers and of the Manila Electric Co. with generating companies owned by the Lopezes.

The JFC, in an open letter to President Arroyo, said amending Epira would result in a highly unstable legal framework for the industry and investors.

The group also said the changes would "impact the credibility and put at risk the ongoing power-sector reforms."

The letter was signed by Rick Santos, president of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Richard Barclay, president of the Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce (Philippines); Stewart Hall, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Hubert D'Aboville, president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Toshifumi Inami, president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines; Jae J. Jang, president of the Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; and, Shameem Qurashi, president of the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the energy committee and co-chair of the Congressional Power Commission (Powercom) with Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo, said: "They are welcome guests, but they should not overstay their welcome."

Sen. Francis Escudero said the heads of the foreign chambers have no right to intervene in the work of Congress.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said it was callous of the foreign chambers to try to influence policy or legislation in their host country.

Sen. Joker Arroyo warned President Arroyo against favorably responding to the lobby of the foreign trade chambers.

"I hope these things are clarified. The President should also be careful not to say yes or no. This is the prerogative of Congress," he said.

He said the President should inform the foreign chambers that the issue is now in the hands of Congress, "which will act with wisdom."

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the Palace is prepared to give "weight" to the Senate's opposition to the call of the JFC.

"Well we are prepared to give it due weight but I was not able to listen actually to the proceedings. We were attending a separate meeting, but our feedback is there's a lot of objection to the position submitted by JFC," Bunye said.

He said Malacañang is continuously monitoring developments as it remains firm on its goal of lowering the price of electricity in the country.

Asked if the administration would answer the letter, Bunye said: "Right now I'm just telling you that the situation is very much in progress. There are meetings going on to assess what needs to be done for us to move forward but bottom-line, the overall objective of government is to be able to lower cost of power."

The Government Service Insurance System denounced the JFC for its opposition to the scrapping of "onerous" contracts like those between sister companies Meralco and First Gas of the Lopezes not be rescinded.

"Meralco charged us P13 billion in 2001 for just over P3 billion worth of power produced by First Gas. That's highway robbery which both Meralco and First Gas admitted before Congress last week," said Estrella Elamparo, GSIS chief legal counsel and spokesperson.

"Now for the JFC to tell Filipinos to allow ourselves to be robbed blind through sweetheart deals is absurd. We have enough nationalism and self-respect to say enough is enough," Elamparo said.

Elamparo said the real issue and the real turnoff for foreign investors is the exorbitant cost of electricity sold by Meralco to its captive market.

She said businesses want to break their forced dependency on Meralco, hence are supporting the provision of alternative power sources within special economic zones.

"I don't know where this group is coming from because the clamor of foreign investors is for power rates to go down. How will the cost of electricity go down if we will allow Meralco to take advantage of every loophole in our laws so it can keep on overcharging us?" she said.

The GSIS supports efforts by both the Senate and the House of Representatives to amend Epira, especially provisions allowing "take or pay."

GSIS said the Lopezes have lost any claim to moral ascendancy in corporate governance when they passed on to Meralco customers the cost of electricity used by the company, when they illegally hiked power rates in at least two instances, and when they refused to refund the P21.4 billion in meter and bill deposits of consumers.

The claim of First Gas officials that it already had full 1,000 megawatts capacity in 2000 when it was contracted by Meralco was preposterous, GSIS said.