Former Akbayan national council member Mila Luminog was shot and critically wounded at around 5.20PM yesterday in downtown Cotabato City after attending a seminar in Estosan hotel. A lone motorcycle-riding gunman shot her with a .45 caliber pistol while she was driving her vehicle along the busy national highway in the city. Three bullets hit her in different parts of the body. She was rushed to the hospital by her companions in the vehicle. The gunman escaped immediately after the incident. She is still in critical condition.
Mila Luminog was Akbayan council member from central Mindanao in 2003-2006. She is a staff of gubernatorial candidate Tocao Mastura in Shariff Kabunsuan where up to now, no provincial officials have been proclaimed yet.
"Akbayan Mindanao condemns in the strongest terms possible the attack on Mila's life", lamented by Akbayan officer Tom Villarin." "We ask police authorities to look into all possible angles behind such dastardly crime and bring the perpetrators to justice" he added.
Aug 15, 2007
Aug 9, 2007
Meralco’s additional power from NPC: Too little, too late, and useless
The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) today criticized the move of Meralco to source an additional 1,020 gWh electricity from the National Power Corporation (NPC) in an attempt to decrease power rates in this month's bill, saying it is "too little, too late, and useless."
FDC said that prior to the additional supply from NPC, Meralco was sourcing more than 25 percent of its power requirements from the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) which has a higher generation rate than NPC. Meralco now sources 47 percent of its electricity supply from its independent power producers, 38 percent from NPC, and 15 percent from the wholesale electricity spot market.
Too Little
According to FDC, the additional supply from NPC beginning July this year is not enough to significantly lower electricity rates and bring back to the May or June level, before Meralco customers were charged with an additional P1.25/kWh rate, the cost of electricity.
In November 2006, Meralco and NPC entered into a five-year transition supply contract which locks the distribution utility to source up to 20 percent of its requirements from NPC at time-of-use rates. According to ERC, any excess consumption will make Meralco pay NPC an additional premium over and above the agreed contract energy charge plus other adjustments.
Prior to the additional supply sourced from NPC, more than 25 percent of Meralco's power supply requirement was sourced from WESM. In August last year, WESM's clearing price reached P10/kWh, almost 500 percent increase from its price in June. Investigation conducted by the Market Surveillance Committee of the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation revealed that the increase was brought about by price fixing/manipulation by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), a major trader at WESM.
On August 1 this year, WESM's clearing price reached its highest so far, P54.965 per kWh for the Sual plant, almost breaching the P62 price cap at WESM.
"Given the high price trend in WESM, 15 percent is still a huge amount of electricity to be sourced from the spot market," said FDC.
Too Late
The coalition explained that Meralco acted too late in averting the increase in electricity charges of the consumers. "The damage has been done! It knew that prices in WESM are high yet, it continued to source more electricity from there than from the lower-priced NPC until June this year," said FDC.
"In one year of WESM's operation, only the first two months resulted in lower prices. This happened when WESM started in June and when Gloria Arroyo delivered her State of the Nation Address in July last year, announcing a reduction in power rates. Generation rates in WESM after that shot up to 500 percent or higher," FDC continued.
"Many consumers had already suffered from high generation charges since last year and the recent blow was the P1.25/kWh increase in our electricity bills last July," FDC added.
Useless
According to FDC, the alleged reason why Meralco increased the amount of electricity sourced from NPC is to protect consumers from the volatility of prices at WESM. "The bottom line is, electricity being a public utility, must be affordable and accessible to the consumers. Even the additional 1,020 gWh from NPC will not result in that," said FDC.
The coalition asserted that electricity rates in the country will remain high, even one of the highest in the world, as long as the debts and liabilities of NPC and of PSALM are not truly addressed such as the cancellation of onerous contracts with the independent power producers (IPPs) of NPC, audit of all other debts of NPC, and stopping payments to those debts found to have not benefited the public and have been due to the onerous transactions/contracts. More increases in electricity rates will be experienced by the consumers in the coming months as an estimated $9.1 billion worth of NPC debts and PSALM deficits due to power purchase obligations to IPPs will be accumulated by year 2010.
The coalition also reiterated that as long as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) exists, consumers will continue to suffer from high power rates. It claimed that EPIRA is designed to the anti-people profit-making scheme of power corporations like Meralco.
"EPIRA allows anti-consumer rate setting methodologies as excessive profits by utilities are assured. Meralco now rakes in a profit equivalent to more than 15 percent of its return on rate base. EPIRA also allows cross-ownership between distribution and generation, thus the Lopezes who control Meralco – the biggest distribution utility in the company servicing about 70 percent of the country's electricity needs – strengthens its hold in the industry with its share in power generation in the country also increasing. Meralco sources almost half of its electricity requirement from its IPPs," FDC said.
FDC said that prior to the additional supply from NPC, Meralco was sourcing more than 25 percent of its power requirements from the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) which has a higher generation rate than NPC. Meralco now sources 47 percent of its electricity supply from its independent power producers, 38 percent from NPC, and 15 percent from the wholesale electricity spot market.
Too Little
According to FDC, the additional supply from NPC beginning July this year is not enough to significantly lower electricity rates and bring back to the May or June level, before Meralco customers were charged with an additional P1.25/kWh rate, the cost of electricity.
In November 2006, Meralco and NPC entered into a five-year transition supply contract which locks the distribution utility to source up to 20 percent of its requirements from NPC at time-of-use rates. According to ERC, any excess consumption will make Meralco pay NPC an additional premium over and above the agreed contract energy charge plus other adjustments.
Prior to the additional supply sourced from NPC, more than 25 percent of Meralco's power supply requirement was sourced from WESM. In August last year, WESM's clearing price reached P10/kWh, almost 500 percent increase from its price in June. Investigation conducted by the Market Surveillance Committee of the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation revealed that the increase was brought about by price fixing/manipulation by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), a major trader at WESM.
On August 1 this year, WESM's clearing price reached its highest so far, P54.965 per kWh for the Sual plant, almost breaching the P62 price cap at WESM.
"Given the high price trend in WESM, 15 percent is still a huge amount of electricity to be sourced from the spot market," said FDC.
Too Late
The coalition explained that Meralco acted too late in averting the increase in electricity charges of the consumers. "The damage has been done! It knew that prices in WESM are high yet, it continued to source more electricity from there than from the lower-priced NPC until June this year," said FDC.
"In one year of WESM's operation, only the first two months resulted in lower prices. This happened when WESM started in June and when Gloria Arroyo delivered her State of the Nation Address in July last year, announcing a reduction in power rates. Generation rates in WESM after that shot up to 500 percent or higher," FDC continued.
"Many consumers had already suffered from high generation charges since last year and the recent blow was the P1.25/kWh increase in our electricity bills last July," FDC added.
Useless
According to FDC, the alleged reason why Meralco increased the amount of electricity sourced from NPC is to protect consumers from the volatility of prices at WESM. "The bottom line is, electricity being a public utility, must be affordable and accessible to the consumers. Even the additional 1,020 gWh from NPC will not result in that," said FDC.
The coalition asserted that electricity rates in the country will remain high, even one of the highest in the world, as long as the debts and liabilities of NPC and of PSALM are not truly addressed such as the cancellation of onerous contracts with the independent power producers (IPPs) of NPC, audit of all other debts of NPC, and stopping payments to those debts found to have not benefited the public and have been due to the onerous transactions/contracts. More increases in electricity rates will be experienced by the consumers in the coming months as an estimated $9.1 billion worth of NPC debts and PSALM deficits due to power purchase obligations to IPPs will be accumulated by year 2010.
The coalition also reiterated that as long as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) exists, consumers will continue to suffer from high power rates. It claimed that EPIRA is designed to the anti-people profit-making scheme of power corporations like Meralco.
"EPIRA allows anti-consumer rate setting methodologies as excessive profits by utilities are assured. Meralco now rakes in a profit equivalent to more than 15 percent of its return on rate base. EPIRA also allows cross-ownership between distribution and generation, thus the Lopezes who control Meralco – the biggest distribution utility in the company servicing about 70 percent of the country's electricity needs – strengthens its hold in the industry with its share in power generation in the country also increasing. Meralco sources almost half of its electricity requirement from its IPPs," FDC said.
MWSS Board betrays public trust, again
The recent appointment of a former Maynilad engineer as the newest member of the Regulatory Office of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) is a clear manifestation of conflict of interest and of the agency's bias against consumers, the Freedom from Debt Coalition said on Tuesday.
Edgardo Esteban, who just resigned from Maynilad Water services as its head of water production unit last January, took his oath as its chief technical regulator last August 1 during the 10th anniversary celebrations of the MWSS privatization. His office will be responsible for technical and engineering functions including asset management and investment of the government water agency.
"The MWSS Board acted unlawful and betrayed the interest of the public when they appointed Mr. Esteban as a member of the Regulatory Office. MWSS Chairman Oscar Garcia has to explain to the water consumers why he violated a very clear provision in the Concession Agreement," said FDC secretary general Milo Tanchuling,
Under the 1997 Concession Agreement (Exhibit A, No. 2), "No member of the regulatory office shall have any present or prior affiliation with MWSS or either of the concessionaires (or any affiliate of either of the concessionaires)."
"Why would Mr. Garcia and the majority of the MWSS Board choose someone from one of the water concessionaires despite the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel's position that it is a possible violation of the terms of the Concession Agreement? This explains the brand of governance they have which is anti-consumers. This same brand of governance could also possibly explain the water shortage Metro Manila consumers are currently experiencing," said Tanchuling.
The group said that it is ironic that the agency supposedly protecting the interest of the consumers is taking the side of these corporate water concessionaires.
"This is not the first time the MWSS Board did this. In fact, we had filed a case against them last year before the Supreme Court when they declared Manila Water and Maynilad as 'mere agents and contractors' which, according to our study, resulted in the concessionaires' higher profit margins and the passing on of their corporate income tax to unsuspecting consumers," Tanchuling recalled.
Tanchuling said that their group, as water consumers, is mulling to file a complaint before the Ombudsman against Mr. Garcia and the MWSS Board.
A water regulator may not be removed except by action of the Appeals Panel as stipulated in the Concession Agreement. The complainant, however, must be a party to the agreement.
"After ten years of failed MWSS privatization, what we need is a strong and independent regulatory mechanism, not another controversial decision favoring corporate interests," stressed Tanchuling.
Edgardo Esteban, who just resigned from Maynilad Water services as its head of water production unit last January, took his oath as its chief technical regulator last August 1 during the 10th anniversary celebrations of the MWSS privatization. His office will be responsible for technical and engineering functions including asset management and investment of the government water agency.
"The MWSS Board acted unlawful and betrayed the interest of the public when they appointed Mr. Esteban as a member of the Regulatory Office. MWSS Chairman Oscar Garcia has to explain to the water consumers why he violated a very clear provision in the Concession Agreement," said FDC secretary general Milo Tanchuling,
Under the 1997 Concession Agreement (Exhibit A, No. 2), "No member of the regulatory office shall have any present or prior affiliation with MWSS or either of the concessionaires (or any affiliate of either of the concessionaires)."
"Why would Mr. Garcia and the majority of the MWSS Board choose someone from one of the water concessionaires despite the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel's position that it is a possible violation of the terms of the Concession Agreement? This explains the brand of governance they have which is anti-consumers. This same brand of governance could also possibly explain the water shortage Metro Manila consumers are currently experiencing," said Tanchuling.
The group said that it is ironic that the agency supposedly protecting the interest of the consumers is taking the side of these corporate water concessionaires.
"This is not the first time the MWSS Board did this. In fact, we had filed a case against them last year before the Supreme Court when they declared Manila Water and Maynilad as 'mere agents and contractors' which, according to our study, resulted in the concessionaires' higher profit margins and the passing on of their corporate income tax to unsuspecting consumers," Tanchuling recalled.
Tanchuling said that their group, as water consumers, is mulling to file a complaint before the Ombudsman against Mr. Garcia and the MWSS Board.
A water regulator may not be removed except by action of the Appeals Panel as stipulated in the Concession Agreement. The complainant, however, must be a party to the agreement.
"After ten years of failed MWSS privatization, what we need is a strong and independent regulatory mechanism, not another controversial decision favoring corporate interests," stressed Tanchuling.
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