Group says EPIRA makes 'Voltage Five' even richer

A decade after its passage, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) has failed to lower electricity rates and has only enriched the so-called “Voltage Five," the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said. “In contrast to our electricity-starved citizenry and economy, five super-rich families have become much, much richer, having cornered the fruits of EPIRA privatization which in practice has dropped all pretensions of opening up the electric power industry to as many competitive players as possible," said FDC president Ricardo Reyes in a statement. Describing these personalities as the “Voltage Five," Reyes identified them as the Lopezes, Aboitizes, Manuel V. Pangilinan, Danding Cojuangco, and Henry Sy. “Ten years of a failed privatization scheme under EPIRA should convince the Philippine government, especially Congress, to overhaul it. Our people need and deserve a new electric power reform law that will really provide affordable, accessible and clean electricity to all," the FDC president said. On the eve of the 10th anniversary of EPIRA last Wednesday, militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) also said the law has done the opposite of its promise to lower electricity rates, among other things. “The promise then was that EPIRA would bring down power rates and ease the financial burdens of the cash-strapped Napocor. Neither of these happened and consumers are worse off now than they were 10 years ago," Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said on Bayan’s website. — Paterno Esmaquel II, with Jerbert Briola/LBG, GMA News