FDC urges gov't to suspend all NPC assets sale

Advocacy group Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) is urging the government to suspend the planned sale of all the remaining assets of the National Power Corp., pending a comprehensive review of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). "It will be truly judicious if all scheduled asset sale of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is put on hold indefinitely and a review process on EPIRA set into motion," said Milo Tanchuling, secretary-general of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, in a statement. On Wednesday, PSALM announced that it postponed the privatization on July 30 of Unified Leyte geothermal power plant's contracted capacities. The Unified Leyte geothermal plants include the 125-MW Upper Mahiao plant, the 232-MW Malitbog and 180-MW Mahanagdong plants, and the 51-MW Optimization plants. PSALM vice president for asset management and energy trading Conrad Tolentino said the postponement was in line with investors' request for ample time to review and study the bidding terms. There are at least three groups that are keen to bid for the contracts — Aboitiz Power Corp., Pacifica Inc. of the Romero Group, and First Gen Corp., the parent firm of Energy Development Corp. FDC said electricity rates would "certainly go up once these assets are sold to private players while communities lose control of their most valuable natural resource for energy and water." Tanchuling also reiterated its call for the creation of a review panel on EPIRA. The group said its calls for the review of the EPIRA have been consciously ignored by the former administration despite the glaring indicators of its evident failure in bringing down electricity rates and ensuring reliability of supply. "Not only were frauds committed in the process of privatization. EPIRA has in fact created more problems in the industry rather than ride out the debt and power crisis that it intends to resolve during its nine years of implementation," Tanchuling said. The FDC said that once the review panel is put in place, it should look into a number of concerns such the reasons for the continuing rise of electricity rates and the looming power crisis. FDC further said that the review process must involve not only industry experts but also consumers, who, for the past nine years suffered the most under this failed policy. —JE/OMG, GMANews.TV