Turning on the Christmas lights

The presidential visit in Puerto Princesa last Thursday was supposed to be all about the inauguration of a newly completed major national government-funded port expansion project in Palawan. In fact, President Rodrigo Duterte admitted he was “excited” to personally inaugurate this infrastructure project undertaken under his administration’s Build, Build, Build program. Before the festive ceremonial activities ended, the President suddenly got infuriated upon learning the prevailing “sorry state” of the electricity supply in the province.

The angry Chief Executive threatened to wield government powers to take over the power distribution from Palawan Electric Co. (Paleco). The President recalled having confronted top officials of Paleco during his first visit to the province three years ago. But to his extreme dismay, nothing has been done since then.

“If you do not want it, either you come to agree with us on the matter of compensation. Or, I will order its expropriation and I will do it next week, I will issue an order... So I will just take it back,” the President fumed. “It (electric utility franchise) is not a right. It is not a privilege. It’s a thing granted to you and the government can take it anytime,” he bristled.

The endless brownouts in the province were among the issues raised during the meeting of the regional anti-insurgency task force in Palawan. Since the power supply industry falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy (DOE), the President vowed to officially bring Paleco’s failure to meet the needs of its consumers to Secretary Alfonso Cusi. “We will take over and we will distribute (power). You cannot claim exclusivity. You can’t claim private interest because power is impressed with public good,” the President pointed out.

Initially, the President suggested to rural electric cooperatives to allow financially capable groups to take over if they cannot effectively operate as a public utility. “You cannot progress with that kind of set up. Just give it to those who have money so the community can flourish with energy,” the President impressed upon them. “Energy must eternally expand, otherwise the economy will fall...If you cannot keep up there, there are people with money (who can do it),” he added.

The presidential warning came at the heels of a recent questioned virtual take-over last Oct. 18 of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) central headquarters in Southdrive in Baguio City. The “forceful take-over” by police authorities reportedly deputized by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) stirred furor and was assailed by partisan groups as “oppressive and an overkill.”

Both the Benguet provincial board and Baguio City council have questioned the NEA’s tapping law enforcement operatives in the controversial take-over of Beneco. The NEA, a government-owned and controlled corporation, is a regulatory body that has oversight powers over rural electric utilities and coops. It earlier flagged and subsequently replaced several board of directors of Beneco for alleged fund and resources abuses that have allegedly debilitated its operations. This was the latest twist to the leadership change enforced by the NEA in August this year that had already reached the courts.

Obviously, it’s easier said than done when you talk about government take-over of public utilities.

Amid the political noise, we hope that the cry of many of our countrymen in the regions for better electric power services would finally catch the attention of our lawmakers. The unstable power supply problems plaguing the people in Palawan and in Benguet-Baguio City are replicated across the country even amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them are the people of Tagum City and many other towns of Davao del Norte whose plight raised awareness on the grim state of a number of rural electric cooperatives around the country.

The people of Davao del Norte have been asking the leaders and members of the outgoing 18th Congress to begin public hearings on the petition by their community leaders to amend the power distribution franchise granted in their province. The amendment of this franchise grant will pave the way for the local communities of Davao del Norte to have the Davao Light and Power Company – a private entity – replace the local rural electric coops as the power distributor in their area. They count upon Congress to begin the hearings before the Christmas break to put an end to the frequent power outages they suffer.

Their preferred service provider – Davao Light – has been the sole power distribution utility serving Davao City. It also serves nearby Panabo City, a fast-rising agro-industrial hub in Mindanao. The continuing power supply woes unified residents and commercial consumers to join forces and move together behind in pushing Congress help in securing the more reliable services of Davao Light.

In particular, they have endorsed House Bill (HB) 9978 principally authored and filed by Ako Bicol party-list representative Alfredo Garbin Jr. The proposed law will allow Davao Light to expand its services to the municipalities of Davao del Norte, particularly the key tourism areas and business hubs like the Island Garden City of Samal and Tagum City. The bill will, in effect, revoke the franchise of the rural electric coops currently serving the area.

Tagum is practically the next-door neighbor of Davao City where President Duterte lives. The Garbin bill will also, in effect, free more municipalities of Davao del Norte from years of languishing in what they deplored as “substandard” power services.

There are valuable lessons to be learned from these stories of power supply woes while people have to pay for it at exorbitant costs. As far as these electricity consumers are concerned, they all look forward to turn on their Christmas lights, un-interrupted by brownouts when they celebrate at home or elsewhere the holidays ahead with less quarantine restrictions.