Nagkaisa Labor Coalition Demand Aquino to Fulfill Promises to Workers and Account for Workers’ Money Utilized in DAP

A coalition of 49 labor centers, federations and workers’ organizations to promote workers’ interest, the Nagkaisa today issued a statement to give labor groups’ perspective on the fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III tomorrow, Monday, July 28th. Below is the coalition’s pre-SONA statement:

“Millions of Filipino workers and their families remains deprived of the benefits of the inclusive growth they deserve from the so-called high Philippine economic growth they helped built since 2010. It is shameful that the President in Benigno Simeon Aquino III they elected in power four years ago, has tactfully failed them.

With around 700 days left in office, there are bold indications that the man in Pnoythey thought could lead them out of vicious pit of poverty and help them cope with the rising prices of commodities caused by a liberalizing economy is, in fact, slowly abandoning the hope of the working people.

Siding with employers’ interest, President Aquino deliberately refused to break the cycle of poverty by freeing up a large segment of 25 million contractual workers when he turned down outright the Nagkaisa plead to certify the pending Security of Tenure (SOT) bill designed to responsibly eliminate the very backward contractualization work scheme imposed by the business elites.

Aquino is just staring at workers being mangled by a very exorbitant and world class electricity rates controlled by a monopsony cartel of a very few families despite persistent advice from Nagkaisa to act, form and lead a multi-agency, multi-sectoral task force that will figure out within two-year period a secure power supply and a competitive electricity rate.

The stakes just get higher with the ominous crisis in power supply.The hiatus is so real that it would reckon businesses to make significant retrenchments of workers and render the country uncompetitive and unattractive to investments that are necessary to create more new jobs.

The absence of a national strategic plan on power will surely force the state to make knee-jerk but expensive fixes that, in the end, workers, especially minimum wage earners, would have to pay more from their take home pay—reminiscent of the same blunder committed by his mother the late President Cory Aquino.
Aquino is doing nothing while watching workers profusely bleed from the day-to-day stab of recent man-made and phenomenal sudden price increase of rice, garlic and ginger.

Without any significant increase in wages amid hikes in prices and costs of other basic commodities and services during his tenure, he has, in fact,coldly insulted the workers by issuing an executive order that would raise by P10,000 the disability and burial benefits of workers the moment concerned government agencies accrue excess funds.

He has reneged on his promise to “get back” a month later with presidential response on important laborp olicy issues raised by Nagkaisa labor leaders he invited to a pre-labor day breakfast dialogue inside Malacanang Palace on April 30th.

In the light of the controversial discovery of the Disbursement Allocation Program DAP), Mr. Aquino and cohorts should account for every single centavo in the billions of pesos of workers’ money in the scheme.The Nagkaisa demand Mr. Aquino to prove that the people’s money was not siphoned off to ghost projects and illusory expenditures as payoff for political patronage.

Mr. Aquino has squandered all opportunities to make a difference in the lives of workers especially those of the rank-and-file. He has failed to commiserate with the warm bodies that broke their back in earning a living while building the economy. The Nagkaisa has performed its critical part in bringing the case to the table. Now, it cannot entirely put the blame on workers who will claim their piece of social justice on the streets.

TUCP presses government to enter into power generation

TUCP, iminumungkahing pasukin na ng gobyerno ang sektor ng paglikha ng kuryente

Aired July 23, 2014, GMA News State of the Nation Jessica Soho 9:00 PM (PHL Time) on GMA News TV Channel 11

Power crisis may shut down businesses, TUCP fears

AS the power situation in Luzon remains tight, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) warned that the power crisis may force businesses to shut down.

The group is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with various business and labor groups to draw up measures amid adverse ramifications of the energy problem on employment and business stability.

“We have no national strategy to address the looming power crisis. So, the TUCP, other labor groups, consumer and business organizations will meet on Wednesday with the aim of figuring out a recommendation to the government on how to minimize the impact of a full-blown power crisis precluded by prolonged rotational brownouts currently prevailing in many key areas Luzon and in Mindanao,” TUCP Executive Director Louie Corral said on Monday.

The TUCP “wants the government to be prepared when the perfect storm caused by lack of power policy hits the country because it’s the workers who’ll be whipped hard when the storm comes,” Corral added.

Even before Typhoon Glenda hit the country last week, he said, his group had urged Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla to declare a national emergency on power “so that collectively we can come up with the right solutions.”

Petilla recommended the declaration to Malacanang on Monday.
“The fate of all industry roadmaps, particularly the employment targets, is dependent on how we address the power crisis right now.

We need a truthful picture of our future power supply so that we can come up with clear strategies and coping mechanisms and avert companies shutting down and retrenchments of workers. A flawed power industry roadmap will be fatal to the economy. We cannot afford to hinge on the day-to-day weather predicament the fate of the employment of millions of workers,” Corral said.

“Without sufficient and affordable power, there will be no investors and there will be no new jobs,” he added.

The TUCP urged the government to temporarily return to power generation business “until there is sufficient supply to restore business confidence, a return to tariff-setting based on 12 percent cap return-on-rate-base (RORB) to bring down the electricity prices to make the country regionally competitive.”

The group noted that the Philippines has one of the highest electricity rates in the world, which makes the country unattractive to new investments that create quality jobs. This, it said, resulted in static unemployment of 3.046 million in April 2013 and 2.924 million in April 2014.

If the rotating brownouts being imposed by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) continues, the TUCP said it is possible that thousands of employees may lose their jobs.

Meralco also on Monday said electricity would have been fully restored in Metro Manila on Sunday but that some areas in nearby provinces will continue to be without power because distribution lines damaged by Typhoon Glenda had not been fixed.

Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco spokesman, said the company has doubled efforts to restore power in their franchise area.

Also as of Monday, 4.99 percent of the distribution utility’s franchise still had no electricity.

“We hope to close the gap [for Metro Manila] within today. For the franchise area, we cannot say, but we have an internal deadline,” Zaldarriaga told reporters.

He said they are fixing transmission lines in the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Batangas and Quezon but that it will take time to fully restore power in these provinces.

“These are isolated areas [where] we lost supply because we still have to re-string the lines and fix our transformers after they were devastated by the typhoon,” Zaldarriaga added.

Petilla said the power deficit has narrowed down after the 250-megawatt unit of Santa Rita plant kicked in. The energy situation is expected to improve when four power plants will start feeding the Luzon grid within the week.

These plants are San Lorenzo, Pagbilao 1 and 2, Calaca and BacMan. - Manila Times

TUCP to gather labor groups amid current 'power' situation

MANILA, Philippines - Alarmed by the current power situation in some parts of the country following the onslaught of Typhoon "Glenda," the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said Monday that it will meet with various business and labor groups this week to draw up measures to address the problem.

TUCP executive director Louie Corral said the Aquino administration has yet to come up with solution to the current energy situation.

Several provinces and areas in Metro Manila have been experiencing power outages after the typhoon crossed Luzon last week.

“TUCP, other labor groups, consumer and business organizations will meet on Wednesday with the aim of figuring out a recommendation to the government on how to minimize the impact of a full-blown power crisis precluded by prolonged rotational brownouts currently prevailing in many key areas Luzon and in Mindanao," Corral said.

He added: "TUCP wants the government to be prepared when the ‘perfect storm,’ caused by lack of power policy, hits the country because it’s the workers who’ll be whipped hard when the storm comes."

The group said that with one of the highest electricity rates in the world, the country remains unattractive to new investments that create quality jobs resulting to a static unemployment of 3.046 million in April 2013 to 2.924 million in April 2014 while underemployed are 11.057 million and 11.501 million covering the same period.

With the rotational brownouts in the equation, the TUCP also fears many jobs might be retrenched with companies affected by inadequate power supply.

The TUCP and its labor coalition called Nagkaisa has recommended twice to President Benigno Aquino III during the previous Labor day dialogue since 2013 the creation of a multi-agency, multi-sectoral presidential task force headed by him and composed of the economic and infrastructure clusters of the cabinet, business chambers, labor, consumer and power industry players.

The aim of the task force is to address the insufficiency of power and the need to determine affordability and competitiveness of power rates in the country.

Based on the recommendation, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla last May issued an order creating a study group under the DOE.

The TUCP and the Nagkaisa, however, refused to participate saying that they were asking for a presidential task force, not a study group.

Before the onset of rotational brownouts in Metro Manila, Corral said the TUCP urged Petilla to declare a national emergency on power "so that collectively we come up with the right solutions."

“The fate of all industry roadmaps particularly the employment targets is dependent on how we address the power crisis right now. We need a truthful picture of our future power supply so that we can come up with clear strategies and coping mechanisms and avert companies shutting down and retrenchments of workers," Corral said.

The TUCP is recommending that the government temporarily return to the power generation business until there is sufficient supply to restore business confidence, a return to tariff-setting based on 12 percent cap return-on-rate-base (RORB) to bring down the electricity prices to make the country reghionally competitive.

The group also suggests the suspension of Wholesale Electricity Spot Market in favor of bilateral contracting between generators and distributors overseen through a public auction by DOE and Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure true costs and not speculative and “gaming” costs. - Philstar

Workers, businessmen unite in hope to find answers to power woes

IN A rare opportunity, employers and employees find common ground in finding the urgency to address the emerging power crisis in the country.

In a statement, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said that business and labor groups are set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the power crisis in the country.

"We have no national strategy to address the looming power crisis. So, the TUCP, other labor groups, consumer and business organizations will meet on Wednesday with the aim of figuring out a recommendation to the government on how to minimize the impact of a full-blown power crisis," said TUCP executive director Louie Corral.

He said the two sectors often fighting over labor issues deemed it necessary for them to be united in helping the government find an effective solution to the power crisis.

"The fate of all industry roadmaps particularly the employment targets is dependent on how we address the power crisis right now. A flawed power industry roadmap will be fatal to the economy. We cannot afford to hinge on the day-to-day weather predicament the fate of the employment of millions of workers," said Corral.

To recall, labor groups have already asked President Benigno Aquino III as early as last year to head a multi-agency, multi-sectoral presidential task force composed of the economic and infrastructure clusters of the cabinet, business chambers, labor, consumer and power industry players with the aim to address the power woes of the country.

Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla had responded last May by creating a study group under the Department of Energy (DOE), instead, said the TUCP.

Labor groups refused to participate, saying what they asked for is a presidential task force and not a study group.

TUCP spokesman Alan Tanjusay said they are wary that the rotational brownouts could ultimately result to severe job losses across the country.

"With the rotational brownouts in the equation, TUCP fears many jobs might be retrenched with companies affected by inadequate power supply," said Tanjusay in a phone interview.

He noted how the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) had recorded last year about 40,000 people losing their jobs under normal circumstances, or due to slump in demand and high cost of production.

"If the government does not come up with the right strategy to address the problem, the numbers could easily increase dramatically to almost double," said Tanjusay. (HDT/Sunnex)

Parts of Luzon suffer rotating power outages

MANILA, Philippines - Parts of Luzon experienced rotating power interruptions lasting up to three hours yesterday due to supply deficiency brought about by the unavailability of some power plants, according to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

Meralco started the manual load dropping, a way of rationing power, at 10:27 a.m., resulting in rotating blackouts of two to three hours in portions of Tutuban, Manila; Calumpit, Meycauayan, Marilao and Sta. Maria in Bulacan; Bacoor, Cavite; and Grace Park in Caloocan. Parts of Quezon City also experienced power outages.

The rotating power outages ran from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said the situation is expected to return to normal today.

The supply deficiency stemmed from the scheduled maintenance shutdown of the Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas, owned and operated by Kepco Philippines Inc. and which sources its supply from the Malampaya natural gas facility in offshore Palawan.

The Ilijan plant is one of the three natural gas plants supplying 30 percent to 40 percent of Luzon’s energy requirements.

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“The Ilijan plant had to undergo pigging (pipeline inspection gauge) activities,” said Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga.

The pigging procedure also intends to eliminate accumulated deposits, which affect the overall productivity of the facility, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). The process will clean the nearly 15-kilometer pipeline of the plant, which originates all the way from the Malampaya platform.

The Calaca coal-fired power plant in Batangas also went on maintenance shutdown but went back online yesterday.

As a result of the supply deficiency, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines put the Luzon grid on red alert yesterday.

A red alert means there is severe power deficiency, while a yellow alert means reserves are below the minimum level set by the regulator. Yellow alert is reached when the total reserve is less than the capacity of the largest plant online. For the Luzon grid, this is usually equivalent to 647 megawatts, or one unit of the Sual power plant.

Augmenting the power supply deficiency was the government’s so-called Interruptible Load Program (ILP).

ILPs are generating units, which are the back-up capacity of all industries around the country such as malls.

“The ILP is in place so there’s less (blackout) in Meralco’s franchise area,” Petilla said.

Malacañang also assured the public yesterday that authorities were on top of the situation as the maintenance activities were ongoing.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over radio dzRB that authorities were closely monitoring the tight supply due to emergency maintenance.

“We do ask for the understanding of our citizens and their cooperation... We can take small steps to conserve energy over the weekend because that will help in managing the demand,” Valte added.

National emergency on power called

Despite the assurance from Malacañang, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) yesterday called for the declaration of a national emergency on power to prevent a possible massive displacement of workers due to the power crisis.

The TUCP also asked the Aquino administration to establish a multi-agency group to address the power crisis and protect workers from blackouts and rising electricity rates.

“All it takes is presidential courage to announce an emergency and the need for a national response,” the TUCP said in a statement.

The TUCP said the ASEAN integration in 2015 would require a clear energy roadmap to encourage foreign investors to pour their investments in the country and promote employment. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Aurea Calica , Philstar

TUCP Slams DOE Sec. Petilla for Inutility on Brownouts

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) chided Energy Secretary Petilla for his being inability to address brownouts and increasing electricity rates.

The group, instead, proposes a declaration of national emergency on power so that the country will cease being a victim of the vicious cycle.

TUCP described the “red alert” status issued by the Department of Energy, warning as to insufficient supply this weekend as the tip of the iceberg.

“Our ship-of-state is sailing full speed ahead, in a collision course with the twin -peak iceberg of lack of power and MERALCO’s never-ending price increases. The DOE is placing our economic take-off at risk and is setting the stage for an impending economic meltdown,” said TUCP Executive Director Luis Corral.

“The TUCP requests that the DOE Secretary to call a spade a spade and advice President Aquino that there is now an emergency in the power sector, requiring a multi-agency response with clear directions from the President, “said Corral.

The labor center in a two-hour audience with President Aquino this April 30 requested the President to declare an emergency and establish a multi-agency group under him to address the power crisis. The DOE instead set up a task force study group which the TUCP and labor coalition Nagkaisa..

Corral laid the responsibility with the DOE for not laying down clear policy parameters and accompanying strategies to ensure secure power supply or to define competitive rates.

“The DOE doesn’t have these two items which can be technically defined by engineers, financial analysts and industry practitioners. In the absence of crisis leadership, electric power policy is veering from one Supreme Court case, still unresolved, to a new Supreme Court case, from ERC caps on a supposedly free-market activity to a more complex two price-cap mechanism and now to a pitiful DOE Task Force on Power Rates whose arcane and complex debates are further obscuring one central fact: That power Philippine Power Policy is in this climate of drift is firmly in the hands of a socially irresponsible and financially greedy power generation sector,” he explained.

In the midst of this, consumers are supposed to rely on the oversight of an Energy Regulatory Commission headed by the Napoles-challenged Zeny Ducut,” said TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.

“While there is a lack of secure and reliable supply, government should step in to put up additional capacity. If bilateral contracts between power distributors and generators will better lower rates and approximate true costs, then suspend the WESM until a technically developed percentage of supply reserve is set up to engender real competition. If there is cheap hydropower available during the rainy season, then run it instead of keeping it as ancillary reserve while the more expensive coal and oil plants are run,” Tanjusay said..

He said this can be done without need of amending EPIRA,” All it takes is Presidential courage to announce an emergency and the need for a national response. Then all the players can be prodded, cajoled and otherwise mobilized to restore sanity to the electricity industry."

The TUCP also called for an end to “blue skies” wishful thinking that somehow the DOE target to increase solar from 50 Megawatts to 500 Megawatts, will ease the burden of the supply deficit.

Solar has at best an efficiency capacity at best of 20%, 500 MW really means 100 MW and that will never be large enough or reliable enough to be base load for large industries. Also, this will be done with a feed-in-tariff that will jack up rates by an average of 18 centavos per kWh for the next 20 years.

"Solar seems to be the flavor of the month, Two years ago the flavor was privatizing the power barges and last year it was pushing generation sets. In Mindanao DOE could have rehabilitated the Agus Pulangui hydro-electric complex as demanded by Mindanawons, they did not , so the UP experts are predicting 200 plus days of brownouts for Mindanao next year. In the meantime the DOE rushed implementation of the Retail Competition and Open Access program which we fear will further drive up rates for the captive residential households of MERALCO,” Corral added.

TUCP attributes the deflated 5.9% GDP growth rate in the first quarter as being driven by insecurity of businesses in our power supply. TUCP also attributed the inflation rate of 4.7% in May, the highest in 30 months, on the spiraling cost of power. They said energy officials preen with confidence about the manageability of our power crisis and yet we are made to pay for their failure of political leadership.

The labor group said the country is hit by the triple whammy of spiraling costs of goods and commodities, an interruptible load program that allows Robinson's and SM to power up their generators to energize the lights and air-conditioning of their malls when there are NCR brownouts and be able to charge it to MERALCO customers, and now the real threat of retrenchments because businesses are losing because of no power and high power costs.

TUCP has warned that the ASEAN Integration come 2015 requires a clear energy roadmap. "A wrong-headed energy roadmap will be fatal to all other industry roadmaps. If there is no power, there will be no investors and there will be no jobs," Tanjusay said.- Bohol Standard