By Sammy F. Martin
MANILA, Dec. 1 (PNA) — The House of Representatives will start on Tuesday the consideration of House Joint Resolution No. 21 granting five-month emergency powers to President Benigno S. Aquino III to address the projected power shortage during the summer months of 2015.
House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said his panel has already placed in the agenda or Order of Business the joint resolution for approval by Congress before the Christmas break.
Gonzales, chairman of the House Committee on Rules, said Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and also co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), is set to sponsor the joint resolution.
“The plenary debate on the joint resolution will begin tomorrow (Tuesday). Congressman Umali, who was hospitalized recently, will sponsor the measure,” said Gonzales on the joint resolution that was deliberated upon by the House Committees on Energy and Ways and Means.
He explained that the joint resolution will no longer be discussed by the House Committee on Appropriations, saying that an amendment to cover the budgetary requirement will be done in the plenary.
“The budgetary component will be introduced in the plenary which is allowed by our rules,” Gonzales said, stressing the lawmakers should ensure that no power outages will happen next year.
Earlier, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said the proposed emergency powers for President Aquino would need some Php450 million to address the projected electricity shortage.
The joint resolution would mainly use the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) scheme in generating additional power capacity. It provides that “additional generating capacity shall be sourced from the ILP, fast-tracking of committed projects, and plants for interconnection and rehabilitation.”
The proposed version would allow the President to intervene in power generation by providing compensation to privately-owned entities with self-generating facilities using generators for their electricity consumption instead of getting power supply from the national grid or ILP scheme.
Under the joint resolution, the House Committee on Energy sets a working figure of 1,004 megawatts (MW) as negative reserves.
The joint resolution shot down Malacañang’s proposal authorizing the government to lease expensive power barges as it was prone to corruption and could cost as much as Php12 billion for just a brief period of use.
The Joint Resolution No. 21 will authorize President Aquino “to provide for the establishment of additional power generating capacity as mandated by Republic Act No. 9136, also known as the EPIRA, to effectively address the projected shortage of the supply of electricity in the Luzon grid from 12 March to July 2015.”
It empowers President Aquino to submit a monthly report to the Senate and the House of Representatives on the exercise of such powers that will last until July next year, unless withdrawn sooner by Congress.
Under the ILP, it seeks to encourage the private sector to run their own generators during peak demand periods next year instead of getting their supply from the Luzon grid.
The power that would not be taken from the grid would be available to household and small users, preventing a rotating blackout.
The joint resolution empowers the President to procure additional generation capacity on or before March 1, 2015.It also provides that energy conservation measures “shall be pursued vigorously in both public and private sectors.” (PNA)