House committee rejects Noy’s emergency powers

Photo by Robert Viñas / PCOO

MANILA – President Aquino will not be given the emergency powers he want, according to the chairman of the House energy committee yesterday.

Aquino has earlier requested the Congress to grant his emergency powers in order to deal with the coming power shortages in the summer of 2015.

Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali said that the special authority Aquino is seeking will no longer be granted, instead, they are focusing on the interruptible load program (ILP) to address the issue.

“The rent-or-buy option to establish additional generating capacity is already out. We are now focusing on ILP,” he said during a news conference.

ILP will encourage business establishments to run their own generators instead of getting supply from the Luzon grid.

The ILP will especially be needed during the peak demand periods from March to June 2015.

Umali also clarified that the decision to choose the ILP option over the option to buy generators came from the Department of Energy (DOE).

“It’s not us who foreclosed the option to rent or buy generators. It was the DOE (Department of Energy) which withdrew that option in yesterday’s hearing,” Umali said.

“Emergency powers should not be granted, especially if it has no factual basis because it will result in higher prices of electricity.

While we should look for solutions if there is an impending crisis, we should guard against short term knee jerk solutions that make energy costly,” Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said.