Malacañang is open to discussing proposals by some lawmakers to grant emergency powers to President Aquino to deal with the power crisis in Mindanao.
“We will have to study the proposal when filed in the Lower House,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said yesterday. “As of the present time, the power situation is being addressed by the Department of Energy with the stakeholders in Mindanao.”
Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras also said he is open to giving Aquino emergency powers to resolve the crisis.
The President, speaking at the Euromoney Philippine Investment Forum in Makati City, said the Philippines is likely to meet the projected increase in demand for electricity sooner than expected through the government’s national renewable energy program.
Aquino has appealed to the public to give the government more time to solve the power crisis, saying previous administrations had long neglected problems in the power sector.
The President told the forum that the country would need 15,500 megawatts by 2030, and that so far, more than 7,000 MW worth of service contracts had been approved.
“Pending applications (cover) around 3,771 megawatts together with the installed capacity of about 5,000 (MW)… It seems to be a clear path already to attaining that needed energy by 2030 even in the next perhaps three to four or five years,” Aquino said.
“We will be ready when that demand comes in... hopefully this will also be the factor – that there is an increase in store generation capacity – that will bring down the prices of electricity,” he said.
Almendras, meanwhile, said emergency powers for the President should also mean allowing state-run agencies to engage in power supply contracts, an arrangement currently prohibited under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001.
Continue Reading at By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star)
