Govt has P500M budget for Mindanao power crisis

The government has anticipated the power shortage in Mindanao and has in fact allotted a P500-million emergency fund for it in this year's budget, House Speaker Prospero Nograles said on Wednesday. Nograles, who represents Davao City, said he personally included a P500-million appropriation in the 2010 national budget in anticipation of the energy shortage, which has been causing rotating brownouts in the region. “As Speaker and a Mindanaoan, I could not sit idly by waiting for the Department of energy to solve the problem. That is why I initiated this appropriation as a safeguard measure," he said. The power shortage in Mindanao was already foreseen by the National Power Corporation (Napocor) as early as 2006, he added. The P500-million emergency fund was appropriated to the National Electrification Administration in the 2010 General Appropriations Act. Nograles said his office is now studying the feasibility of deploying two 30-megawatt generators to help address the power shortage in Mindanao. The Department of Energy (DOE) and the House committee on energy have asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to invoke Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act and declare a power crisis in Mindanao. Upon determination by President of an imminent supply shortage, Congress may authorize, through a joint resolution, the establishment of additional generating capacity under such terms and conditions as it may approve. Mindanao derives most of its electricity from hydroplants, which have been severely affected by the current dry spell. - Johanna Camille Sisante/KBK, GMANews.TV