Arroyo junks special session proposal to solve power crisis

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will no longer call for a special session of Congress in order to get special powers to solve the power crisis in Mindanao, a Malacañang official said on Monday. Instead, the President will just let Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes deal with the problem, said deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar. “If this [special session] is something that is not possible in any case, then we can do without it. What we cannot do is to simply ignore the problem and wish it would go away, or to finger-point and criticize. That’s not an option for us either," Olivar said. He said President Arroyo’s decision was based on the advice of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles, who both said they would not be able to muster a quorum because lawmakers – them included – are already busy campaigning for the May 10 elections. Enrile is running for re-election while Nograles is eyeing a mayoralty post in Davao City. “If many in the legislative cannot even be bothered to take time off from their campaigning in order to empower the executive to take appropriate action, then the executive has no choice but to soldier on by itself, because the urgency of the country’s problems will neither be stayed nor denied," Olivar said. Olivar said Reyes would evaluate all the options available and “see how we can aggressively move in the event that we are not given the necessary authorization by the legislature." Malacañang is looking at the possibility of leasing or renting power barges or generating plants to boost electric supply in Mindanao. The Department of Energy (DOE) said it needs P8 billion to address the rotating brownouts. Palace lawyers are studying whether the plan is in line with the Electric Power Industry Restructuring Act of 2001 (Epira), which directs government to leave the power business to the private sector. The Palace has argued that leasing or renting power generation sets does not mean government is buying or acquiring them. - KBK, GMANews.TV