GMA's "war" vs. MERALCO

[chua_riwap]

Let's see kung ano mangyayari. Ayos yan, para bumaba naman electric bills natin.




7 May 2008
Daily Tribune

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20080507hed1.html

Palace Calls Lopez's Management Greedy

The campaign being waged by President Arroyo against the Lopez family which controls management in dominant power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has evolved into a clan war after Pampanga Rep. Juan iguel “Mikey” Arroyo, the presidential son, was reported to be readying a congressional inquiry into the possibility of a management change in the power firm.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago made the revelation yesterday with a pronouncement that the energy committee of the two chambers will start this week a joint investigation into allegations that Meralco is overcharging consumers.

Speaker Prospero Nograles reportedly asked Rep. Arroyo, chairman of the House committee on energy, “to buckle down to work and expedite the passage of various measures affecting consumers on the rising cost of fuel and electricity,” including the probe into Meralco and in particular, the management change being pursued by Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) president Winston Garcia.

Santiago told reporters she just got wind of the information that Nograles had directed her lower house counterpart to inquire into the possibility of effecting a change in the management of Meralco, where government holds a 23 percent equity, to effect the lowering of power rates.

“It’s high time that we conduct the investigation on Meralco because of the high cost of electricity that we’re paying and they (Meralco) for raking in so much income,” the administration senator said.

Malacañang, meanwhile, continued its word war against the Lopezes calling “greedy,” the leadership of Meralco that it charged of overbilling customers for many years, adding that it is throwing its full support on GSIS’s call for a leadership change in the power firm.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol said Meralco president Jesus Francisco is among other officials who can be ousted from their posts, and at the same time remove from the influential Lopez family the control of the company.

Apostol said this will happen if Garcia is able to muster majority votes during the annual stockholders meeting in Meralco scheduled on May 27. Apostol reminded the public that during the time of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, the Lopez family lost its control over Meralco.

“Yes, we can do that (government takeover). The government had done that during the time of Marcos (regime) the Lopezes then were not running Meralco, they’re even in exile. Meralco can be run by other people not just the Lopezes. Mr. Francisco and the rest of the leadership in Meralco can be ousted from their positions, that can be done. All the GSIS has to do is convince other small players, stockholders of the corporation, to get enough votes, bigger votes than Meralco then we can have control of the management,” he said.

The presidential aide however said the government which has some 30 percent shares of stocks in Meralco, slightly lower than what the Lopezes have, 30.4 percent, may have a hard time.

“I believe Meralco has dummy stockholders. Garcia should watch out for that. It is going to be difficult, because Meralco management is profit--oriented and not public service oriented….they have become too greedy,” he said.

“The question here is, how come in all of Asia, we have the most expensive electricity cost when in fact we have already disposed of some of the assets of the Napocor (National Power Corp.),” he said.

“Why is there a disharmony between the process of generating power and bringing it to the consumer? That is the function of the JCPC (Joint Congressional Power Commission) under the Epira (Electric Power Industry Reform Act), to see to it that the electricity rates are set as low as possible.

“Apparently we have not achieved it. Meralco now is the focus of attention and what is stopping the power industry from lowering electric rates for us to be competitive in the region?” Santiago said. “We are still in the process of seeing what kind of amendments to the Epira will be made. And if we hold these hearings, the conclusion will take the form of possible amendments to the Epira law,” she said. Also, Santiago said they would like to inquire on the slow pace privatization of Napocor.

Nonetheless, the senator said that also among the reasons for the inquiry is to look into why Meralco is still charging high power rates despite the low price being imposed by the Napocor which supplies the Lopez-owned power distribution company.

“If what President Arroyo says is true, how come we have not seen this in our bills? If indeed (Meralco) purchased power from the Napocor, which is state-owned, at a low price, it’s only natural that we, the consumers, get it at an affordable rate,” she said.

If, at some point, there are those that pilfer supply from Meralco, also known as “systems losses”, Santiago questioned why the consumers are being made to shoulder this foregone income.

The Supreme Court, Santiago said, had already issued rulings against Meralco to refund overcharging it made in the past and yet, this has not been implemented. “If this is the case, how come there has not been any probe on this matter? All these things will be taken up in the joint hearing of the committees of energy of the House at Senate,” she said.

Pimentel, on the other hand, said it is the Napocor that has the ultimate leverage over the rates. “Napocor is the key to lowering the rates. If I’m not mistaken, under section 53 of the Epira law, Napocor is mandated to use all its powers to lower the cost of electricity. So Napocor should first look into how it can go about that. We cannot tell Napocor how to do it, but the power is with them, therefore, it is up to them tell us how they are going to do it and whether they’re going to do it or not,” he said.

Pimentel also contradicted the assertions of some of his colleagues that Meralco and not Napocor should be made to provide the solution in addressing the high cost of electricity. “That might be true if Napocor is the only source of power. Many or much of the supply comes from Napocor. You cannot rule out the fact that Napocor steps in to lower the power or electric cost.

“But I’m not even too sure that privatization of all the assets of Napocor is the solution. I’m not too sure about that because power is a very sensitive commodity and I believe that the government should somehow have a leverage in the matter of supplying and distributing power. Somehow. And they can only do that if they retain some of the substantial assets,” he said.

Apostol however clarified that the Arroyo government has no intention to take over Meralco saying the policy of the administration is privatization.

“We have no interest to take over Meralco, we will leave that to the GSIS because the policy of the government is privatization…our priority concern right now is first change the attitude of Meralco. Second reduce its power rates and then return to the Filipinos whatever it had overcharged in the past,” he said.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Lorelei Fajardo echoed the same saying it is still speculative at this time on reports the government seeks a takeover of Meralco.

“The government taking over of Meralco is purely speculative, the GSIS is taking action as one of the major shareholders of Meralco. It is within the rights of the GSIS through its chairman to cause Meralco to allow its board members to have access to records, to allow it to determine the viability of their investment or if they are in fact receiving just and fair share of the profits derived from the utility company,” she said.

Apostol also lauded Garcia in the latter’s plan to criminally charge official heads of Meralco for defrauding the Filipino masses of P30 billion in overbilling which the Supreme Court ordered a refund.

“If Garcia finds enough evidence against erring management officials from Meralco, he could go to court and file cases against personalities, but it should be done with caution, caution must prevail over emotions, but yes the government should file cases because the findings of the Supreme Court is very clear. They (SC) demanded Meralco to refund back P30 billion. There were no personalities (from Meralco) that had been charged there,” he said.

Apostol said if Meralco is not hiding anything they should cooperate with the GSIS and open its book of accounts.

“The intention of Winston (Garcia) to demand Meralco to open its book of accounts is correct and that speaks of transparency, that’s legal under the corporate law. If Meralco refuses, Winston should file a complaint before the Securities and Exchange Commission, to file a petition and demand Meralco to open their books…Otherwise, they (meralco) can be sanctioned, they can be fine and its officials imprison,” he said.

Fajardo raised the same challenged to the Lopez family urging them to fully cooperate with the GSIS.

Asked if the president have an axe to grind against the Lopezes, for being critical by its television network station ABS-CBN, against her presidency, Apostol denied.

“That’s not true, the government is doing this for the people, in fact the government non interference with the ABS-CBN despite its media attacks against her is a a good sign of democracy. If she is retaliating, she could hit directly at the ABS-CBN not Meralco, not the other way around,” he said.

[ringostarr]

it's a clan war indeed but not bec. it's Meralco overcharging customers. matagal na galit sila GMA kina Lopez since 60's pa kasi yun matandang Lopez hindi sinuportahan yun tatay nila kaya natalo sa election noon araw. 2nd run na yun pagkapanalo ng matandang Macapagal

from what I can remember, halos 51 percent lang ang stake ng Lopez sa meralco the rest is govt owned din naman so kung na-overcharge man tayo ng Meralco, napunta din sa gobyerno halos kalahati nun. he who casts the first stone ika nga ito article na 'to

GMA wants to take over Meralco and give the control dun sa HK Power tycoon na nag-susupply sa HK ngaun. eto ang dapat wag tayo pumayag in the spirit of patriotism. this is not good ..

in the case of overcharging, blame that to populist politics. the older Lopez who just passed away made a speech statement about populist politics and how it is a danger to our country.

our politicians are using the masses for their election votes and in return, they give free electricity to squatters. sa caloocan lang makikita nya parang 3-story na pader ang metro dun for the squatters. meralco has no choice but to raise electricity to cope up with the losses kasi nag-aanswer din sila sa mga foreign investors nila. and we the middle class are paying for these masa na parati na lang sinisigaw kungdi mahirap sila. ngaun yan ba ang labanan ng parehas.

[shadow]

^^^sometimes I agree with OB...

[Monseratto]

Why should the consumer pay for system loss? Why doesn't Meralco absorb it instead of passing the buck?

[uls]

This time im happy about what GMA is doing.

Sobra obvious ang anti-government slant ng mga Lopez thru ABSCBN.

Just watch TV patrol every night... puro aktibista ang ini-interview ng mga reporter.

ABSCBN's goal is to stir discontent among the masses...

which they hope would result in a popular uprising and topple GMA.

...and put Noli in power.

Yan ang goal ng mga Lopez.

Ginagamit lang ng mga Lopez ang masa...

para sa interest ng mga business nila.

[CtrlAltDel]

The unfortunate reality is that consumers would somehow shoulder part of the systems losses of the distribution utility which is a practice not only in the Philippines but also in all other utilities abroad. You see, "power in" is not equal to "power out." There are techincal losses during the conversion process due to the laws of physics. Further, realize too that electricity is such a unique commodity so unlike other commodities:

It must be consumed at the very moment it is produced. You cannot stockpile electricity. You cannot have it delivered in advance and use only when you need it. When you're outlet is "live" that's it. The generators are spinning (generating power/burning fuel) whether you plug an appliance in your outlet or not.

Utilities are allowed by law to recover some of its ssytems losses but only up to a certain limit. In Meralco's case this limit is 9.5%; any higher and the utility bears the additional cost. Perhaps what most of us want to happen is to have this limit lowered further. Such move would involve hearings at the ERC so the regulator can balance the interest of the utility and the consumer.

[CtrlAltDel]

This time im happy about what GMA is doing.

Sobra obvious ang anti-government slant ng mga Lopez thru ABSCBN.

Just watch TV patrol every night... puro aktibista ang ini-interview ng mga reporter.

ABSCBN's goal is to stir discontent among the masses...

which they hope would result in a popular uprising and topple GMA.

...and put Noli in power.

Yan ang goal ng mga Lopez.

Ginagamit lang ng mga Lopez ang masa...

para sa interest ng mga business nila.

If that were true then nobody is as innocent as they hope to appear to be. When I listen to Mike Enriquez in the mornings I also thought his goal was to stir the masses to discontent. Whose network do you think would reap the benefit when ABS-CBN and the Lopezes are seen in a bad light? That's right, GMA7 and Pres. GMA.

What surprises me however is the heavy media coverage on Meralco's rates when according to officially published reports they havent had a rate increase since 2003! They claim that all rate increase were coming from the generation part of the bill, not on the distribution charge. If you were to read their boring press release, they even suggest that in some cases, ina-abunuhan muna ng meralco and rate increase ng NPC at hindi muna singilin and customer until a period of a few months.

While were at it, why are we not fuming mad also at NPC's alleged thievery? I read this article by Jarious Bondoc about NPC's under-dealings and thought that if it was true... kawawa na talaga tayong mga Pilipino! niloloko ng harap-harapan. Kinakastigo ang Meralco pero tinatakpan ang higit na mas malaking pandaraya at kapalpakan ng NPC at abuso ng Arroyo govt!

http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Op...aid=2008050693

[Altis6453]

To a certain degree, I can't argue with the System Loss Charges. However, I don't agree with consumers having to subsidize the so-called "lifeline rate" for those consuming 100 KWH or less. Why oh why should ordinary consumers be made to pay for other people's electricity consumption? Socialized public utility service? Sheesh! When you add up the total no. of people who are using the lifeline rate, they probably outnumber those are regular consumers of electricity (meaning 101 KWH and up).

[CtrlAltDel]

About Sen. Mirriam Santiago's reactions and proposed invistigation of MEralco. By all means, I hope the senate do so! I also hope they dont conveniently forget to investigate the alleged graft of NPC officials resulting to millions of dollars of kickback from questionable coal purchases whose ultimate beneficiary I can only surmise to be living in Malacanang at the moment...

I am one of those kababayan's of Sen. Santiago who are ashamed to be associated with her. She is so predictable! Sh_1t! She will do anything to get the blessings of Malacanang to get the endorsement of the Philippine govt for her nomination to the International Court of Justice.. for which she does not belong to! She is wondering why electricity is so high? Is she crazy? Are we not insufferable importers of oil and coal, main fuel of plants supplying the Luzon grid? Look at the price of oil now? True we have an lpg plant in Malampaya but the government had its dirty hand on it for a whopping 50% royalty fees! Who do you think pays for that royalty to the governemt?

That's right, you and me honest taxpayers. Just look at your generation charge and weep.

[CtrlAltDel]

To a certain degree, I can't argue with the System Loss Charges. However, I don't agree with consumers having to subsidize the so-called "lifeline rate" for those consuming 100 KWH or less. Why oh why should ordinary consumers be made to pay for other people's electricity consumption? Socialized public utility service? Sheesh! When you add up the total no. of people who are using the lifeline rate, they probably outnumber those are regular consumers of electricity (meaning 101 KWH and up).

I also believe (no proof of course) that these very same consumer sector now enjoying lifeline rates are the target of emotional manipulation to move against meralco.

by the way, may I ask no one in particular.

What the heck happened to the food and rice crises the media had been harping about a few days back?

What about the exposes of Jun Lozada, the NBN scandal? Is meralco so important it can eclipse these other emergencies of national scope when meralco's franchise is only part of luzon?

PS. for those who bother to be a little more objective, here's the EPIRA power tracker website where you can compare the rates of various utilities across the country:

http://powertracker.doe.gov.ph/distribution-utilities