State of calamity declared in Mindanao amid power crisis

(Updated 4 - 8:55 PM) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has approved a recommendation declaring a state of calamity in Mindanao, allowing government to use disaster funds to address the power crisis besetting the Philippines’ second-largest island. This was disclosed on Thursday by Mindanao Development Authority chairman Jesus Dureza, who, until last year, was the Arroyo government’s press secretary. Dureza made this disclosure while accompanying the President during a visit in Zamboanga del Norte, a separate dzBB radio report said. Declaring a state of calamity in Mindanao will also allow local government units to use up to five percent of their internal revenue allotments (IRA), which are their share of revenues from the national government. Besides suffering from anywhere from three to 11-hour blackouts everyday, Mindanao also has a 700-megawatt power supply shortfall. The energy deficit is enough to be already considered as “calamity proportions," Dureza added. Earlier, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) recommended the declaration of a state of calamity so that local government units can use their calamity funds to remedy or alleviate the power crisis. Interagency body to address Mindanao power lack Separately, an interagency body will meet on Thursday to refine strategies that will address the Mindanao power crisis, presidential deputy spokesperson Gary Olivar said during a Thursday briefing in Malacañang. The meeting will be attended by officials of the Departments of Energy, Finance, and Justice and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), he added. “Their job is to make sure that the entire program is ready for execution once the formality of the proclamation is done by the President," Olivar said. The dry spell brought about by El Niño has drastically reduced water supplies in dams in Mindanao. More than half of Mindanao’s energy requirements — at 53 percent — are sourced from dams. Although rains are expected to come in June, the “recovery of water levels may take a little longer," Olivar said. “This crisis is definitely going to be around for a while and…we certainly have to move quickly." Among the measures to be discussed during Thursday’s interagency meeting include shifting work schedules to night from daytime when electricity demand is lower and purchasing generation sets and power barges to increase energy capacities. Mindanao-based companies have viewed the state of calamity declaration favorably but workers have expressed some resistance to the change in their work schedules, Olivar added. But he said he was confident that the workers would eventually agree to their new yet temporary schedules, especially if the only other choice is the closure of their firms. “I don’t think this is anything that can’t be worked out," Olivar said. “We just need proper consultation and give-and-take among the parties concerned." Despite these efforts, blackouts may still continue because it is also a way of managing electricity demand, Olivar said. Mindanao is not connected to the power grid in Luzon and the Visayas. Thus, power plants in the two islands are unable to dispatch excess electricity to the Mindanao. Energy crisis shows failure of govt, EPIRA In the meantime, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said that the power crisis in Mindanao only shows the failure of the government and the Electricity Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). The law, also known as Republic Act 9136, “is turning out to be ineffectual in breaking the wild swings of power shortage and excess capacity that have characterized the power sector for the longest time, and that have made electricity increasingly expensive and less affordable and accessible to the people." It also insisted that the government has the capability to foresee El Niño, both in the long and short terms, the group claimed in a statement. “The government should have worked out the reserve capacity needed for Mindanao in the months — not years — that hydro-electric power cannot be relied upon," said FDC. “The next thing it should have done was to explore non-carbon, non-nuclear, non-hydro baseload options for Mindanao." "Had the government prepared for this nine years ago, Mindanao should have been spared from blackouts," FDC's national advocacy coordinator Job Bordamonte told GMANews.TV in a text message. "And even if funds would be released from the calamity funds, [Mindanao residents] will still end up holding the record of the poorest people paying the most expensive power in the world." In the meantime, in Davao City, around 100 members of FDC-Davao marched to the venue of the public hearing conducted by the House Energy Committee. The group asked the panel to disclose the technical audit regarding the actual capacity of the existing power plants posted in the DOE website (as of April 2009) especially the 712.48MW NPC-IPP power plants which enjoy take-or-pay provisions as well as the level of efficiency for transmission power systems and structure in Mindanao grid. The group also called for a new energy framework outside of EPIRA, one that would ensure not only energy security but also universal access to electricity, serve the overall development and environmental agenda of our communities, and truly empower consumers. - RJAB Jr., LBG/GMANews.TV