MINDANAO - Rolling power outages in the
southern Philippines have raised the ire of the
underdeveloped region's already beleaguered
population. But as President Benigno Aquino pushes
for special executive powers to deal with the
crisis, some here see a conspiracy to enrich
energy officials and their private sector cronies.
Mindanao, including major urban centers,
has in recent months suffered from three- to
eight-hour rotational power interruptions. Energy
Secretary Jose Rene Almendras recently said the
brownouts will worsen without new investments,
with shortages of 200 megawatts expected by next
summer.
In mid-May, Mindanao's power grid
registered a 40 MW supply deficit, though
shortages have more recently eased due to either
seasonal rains resuscitating parched hydro-power
facilities or
growing opposition and
grass roots pressure on Aquino's government to
explain the causes of the brownouts.
The
Aquino administration is firing up plans to build
coal-fueled power plants across the country,
including in Davao del Sur, Sarangani and South
Cotabato provinces and Zamboanga City in Mindanao.
There are also moves afoot to rehabilitate and
privatize power barges held by the highly indebted
National Power Corporation (NPC) that if better
managed could conceivably add 96 MW to the
regional grid.
In 2010, Aquino rose to
power on an anti-corruption ticket, including a
"There are no poor people where there are no
corrupt leaders" campaign slogan that resonated
with grass-roots voters. The slogan deliberately
targeted perceived massive corruption, including
in the energy sector, under the previous Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo administration. But Aquino
administration's handling of Mindanao's power
crisis is raising questions about his commitment
to that cause.
Power shortages are nothing
new to the Philippines. In the early 1990s,
laggard power plant development resulted in a
nationwide crisis of daily eight- to 10-hour
blackouts and eventually a greater role for
privately run independent power producers (IPPs).
Two decades on, despite greater private sector
participation in the sector, the Philippines faces
some of the highest electricity tariffs in Asia
and still unsteady supplies.
That history
has given rise to several conspiracy theories.
Local environmental groups believe Mindanao's
brownouts are deliberate manipulations of the grid
to justify the private construction of more
coal-fired power plants and other extractive
energy projects in the resource-rich region. Jean
Lindo, convener of the 'No to Coal' environmental
group, argues that recent power interruptions in
Mindanao are not indicative of an actual power
crisis.
"Power distributors can
deliberately cause power black outs to happen by
manipulating the power supply," said Lindo. "This
is not new, and the energy industry has fallen
into the hands of a corporate oligarchy ... Every
time these firms and investors want to build more
coal-fired plants and dams, they mess around with
the power supply and cry out that there's a power
crisis or a shortage in supply."
At a
Mindanao Power Summit held last April, Aquino
emphasized the need to privatize NPC's assets,
including the Agus and Pulangi hydropower
facilities, because the government lacked the
resources to operate and upgrade them at efficient
levels. He also implored private sector energy
investors in attendance to help diversify the
region's power mix, though he did not offer any
incentives or suggestions on how to make that
move.
Dark incentives Now, Lindo
and other activists believe that Aquino's proposed
emergency powers to deal with the crisis aim to
give him executive authority to enter into new
contracts with IPPs without the time-consuming
process of public bidding and transparent
procurement processes. They argue that Mindanao's
power needs are being held hostage to a
government-energy industry nexus that aims to
profit from new plants and the privatization of
certain existing state facilities.
Aboitiz
Power Corporation, a major private power generator
and former employer of Energy Secretary Almendras,
is a strong advocate for and potential beneficiary
of those plans. Company executives have argued
that more coal-fired power plants would be the
most effective long-term solution to Mindanao's
power crisis. Aboitiz executive Manuel Orig
claimed recently his company foresaw the current
power shortages as early as November 2008, when it
made presentations to energy sector leaders
forecasting a crisis if no measures were taken.
However, before Aboitiz and others ramp up
new plant construction, Aquino will need to answer
some potentially hard questions. Senators Francis
Escudero and Aquilino Pimentel, Mindanao Governor
Lala Mendoza and Mindanao Development Authority
Secretary Luwalhati Antonino have all called for
an independent and impartial investigation into
the power outages.
Antonino is a
presidential appointee and party ally of Aquino
and has accused the National Grid Corporation of
creating an artificial power shortage to encourage
the privatization of the Agus and Pulangi
hydropower plants. Antonino is the first
high-level presidential appointee under Aquino to
directly challenge the president in public.
Opposition politicians led by Teddy
Casino, Luz Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus have called
on congress to investigate the causes of
Mindanao's brownouts and have argued that any
consideration of granting Aquino special powers
should be contingent on the investigation's
findings.
Grass-roots activists,
meanwhile, wonder why Aquino is keen to promote
environmentally hazardous coal plants despite
strong local opposition and his earlier advocacy
of cleaner renewable alternatives.
"After
suffering from the agony of power interruption,
the people are now offered false solutions in the
form of coal power plants guaranteed to flagellate
local communities with decades of pollution that
pose an immediate and lasting threat to human
health, local livelihood and the climate," said
Von Hernandez, executive of Greenpeace Southeast
Asia, an environmental lobby group.
Aquino's critics argue he has been
co-opted by private energy corporations,
particularly those who specialize in the
development of coal-fired plants. Leon Dulce,
spokesperson for the Kalikasan (Nature) Party
List, similarly sees a conflict of interest in his
appointment of Almendras, who served previously as
Aboitiz's board treasurer, as his Cabinet's energy
secretary.
Activist resistance has echoed
that skepticism, threatening to take some of the
shine off Aquino's clean governance credentials.
Josephine Pareja, a village chieftain in
Zamboanga City, has lead a series of protests in
opposition to the proposed construction of a
coal-fired power plant commissioned to Aboitiz
near her village. Authorities, she says, have
already approved the necessary documents for the
plant's construction. Expect Parejae and others to
probe Aquino's involvement and the precise terms
of that deal.
Noel Tarrazona, a
permanent resident of Canada, is a visiting
lecturer in the Master of Public Administration
Program in one of Mindanao's oldest private
universities. He can be reached at email
address: noelcanada36@gmail.com
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