WITH the committee on energy resuming its probe on the spike in
Meralco rate today, the labor coalition Nagkaisa, pressed the Senate as a
whole to declare the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) a
failure and consider crafting a new policy framework for sustainable
energy and energy democracy.
The group, which held another picket outside the Senate building,
said that unless there is a declaration to that effect, public hearings
and investigations will offer no material relief to consumers.
Nagkaisa explained that since 2008, consumer groups have attended,
submitted position papers, and argued against the ills of EPIRA before
committee hearings of both houses of Congress, including those conducted
by the powerful Joint Congressional Power Committee (JCPC). Yet no
actions were made to address those concerns.
“Public hearings end with another scheduled hearing then nothing
happens until another controversy arises. Workers are really tired of
wishy-washy intervention on a social problem of this scale,” Nagkaisa
said, referring to the crises of escalating power rates and diminishing
supply.
Nagkaisa asserted that since the enactment of EPIRA which led to the
deregulation of the generation of generation sector, privatization of
Napocor assets, creation of the spot market, and the introduction of
performance-based regulation. Fraud became the norm in the power
industry as shown by rising prices and cartelization.
The group reminded the Senate that in 2008, Senator Miriam Santiago
who chaired the JCPC then stated in her opening remarks in one of JCPC’s
public hearings that EPIRA is a failure; the Senate is a failure as
well as the Executive.
“That is seven years ago and the people will not accept another
decade of unrewarding probes to a mess that has been there since day one
of the implementation of EPIRA,” said the group.
Nagkaisa has been protesting the power hikes which they believed were caused by flawed policies under EPIRA.
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