Talks set on tapping Malampaya under Noy powers

MANILA, Philippines - Congress and energy officials are set to discuss exactly how much of the Malampaya Fund is needed by the Aquino administration to help it deal with a possible power crisis in 2015 using emergency powers.

“Congress and the Department of Energy will be in discussions as to the best manner to address the power shortage in 2015,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said yesterday, when asked to cite a specific amount. “Let’s wait for all options to be threshed out.”

Senate President Franklin Drilon said over the weekend that Congress is willing to authorize Aquino to use from P4 billion up to as much as P10 billion from Malampaya funds, so he could address a looming power shortage in the summer of 2015.

Drilon said the funds would be used for either leasing or purchasing generation sets from suppliers. The amount would depend on the megawatt requirement, or whether this would cover lease or purchase.

“There are various amounts involved depending on the situation, and (the funds) will come from the Malampaya funds,” Drilon told dzBB in a radio interview.

There have been allegations of corruption over the alleged misuse of Malampaya funds in the previous Arroyo administration.

At the height of the pork barrel controversy in 2013, Sen. Ralph Recto asked the administration to give a full audit of how the government spent the proceeds from the Malampaya operations – amounting to about P170 billion over the years.

He estimated that there should be about P130 billion left of the proceeds from royalties from the natural gas operations, as P25 billion was spent during Arroyo’s term and about P15 billion was tapped by the Aquino administration in 2013.

Now is the time

For detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, now is the time for the Senate to begin its investigation into the alleged Malampaya Fund scam as Congress is poised to give Aquino emergency powers.

“The issue becomes timelier as proposals have been raised about the possibility of using the Malampaya Fund to avert a possible power crisis next year,” Estrada said in a statement from his detention cell at Camp Crame.

Estrada again criticized Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III for sitting on the Malampaya case.

“Until now, Senator Guingona has not scheduled a hearing on the Malampaya Fund scam. More than a year has passed (since the scam was reported in July 2013 and since a resolution calling for an inquiry was filed last September 2013) but no action was ever done about it,” Estrada’s statement read. He has been calling for Guingona’s resignation as chairman of Senate Blue Ribbon panel.

Guingona called off the Malampaya hearings last month due to the unavailability of Commission on Audit (COA) Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan and audit team leader Susan Garcia.

Estrada said the Senate should push ahead with an investigation even without the COA executives in attendance since there are official audit reports that can aid the senators in their inquiry.

Estrada said the Senate should instead call again businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and her alleged former accomplice Ruby Tuason and make them talk about their knowledge on how the funds had been used during the Arroyo administration.

In a privilege speech last year, Estrada accused Tuason of being the mastermind of the P900-million Malampaya Fund scam.

Congress’ discretion

As Malacañang awaits Congress’ approval of its plea for emergency powers, Drilon said only lawmakers would have the sole authority to decide on the parameters of such emergency powers.

Drilon said that the Senate has not received any draft of the joint resolution that the President is asking Congress to approve.

Even without a copy of the draft resolution, the Senate, through the committee on energy headed by Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, started discussions on the issue just to figure out the actual status of the power supply and to hear from the DOE what it wants Congress to do to help address the problem.

“At the end of the day, we in Congress will determine the parameters of the emergency powers being sought (by the executive branch),” Drilon said.

“We have been asking for the draft from Malacañang so that we would know exactly what it thinks is needed. But even the draft would have been subject to review and debates in the ongoing hearings of the committee on energy,” he said. “So that will only serve as a guide.”

The Senate energy panel had conducted only one hearing on the proposed emergency powers for the President and according to Osmeña, there would be a couple of technical working group meetings during the ongoing session break.

He said his committee expects to come out with findings by the time Congress resumes session on Oct. 20.

Earlier, Osmeña said he was not convinced of the need – as raised by the DOE – for the country to acquire expensive generation sets, saying requiring private establishments to share some of their power reserves under the interruptible load program (ILP) would greatly ease shortage.

P81-B losses?

Meanwhile, Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian said the Philippines is expected to lose at least P81.6 billion in national income, as well as register increased health costs, and scare away potential foreign direct investment (FDI) if Congress does not act quickly on a resolution allowing the government to establish additional generating capacity to avert a power shortage this summer.

“The legislative branch must prioritize the resolution of the power crisis, either by granting the President emergency powers for the lease or purchase of power generators, or by tapping private establishments through the (ILP),” Gatchalian said.

President Aquino earlier invoked Section 71 of Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 in asking Congress to pass a joint resolution giving him emergency powers.

The administration lawmaker said the projected income loss in Luzon is equivalent to 1.2 percent of last year’s real gross domestic product of P6.76 trillion.

He said the figure was reached by reviewing studies made in Japan and Spain on the effect of the power outages that hit the two countries.

The shortage is also likely to increase hospital admissions, particularly of children and the elderly afflicted with respiratory, renal, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, he said, citing studies from Australia and the United Kingdom.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House committee on energy and co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), earlier said Congress is doing its best to pass the joint resolution. With Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, Marvin Sy, Rhodina Villanueva