“Nasaan ang pondo ng bayan na dapat ginagamit para malutas ang power crisis sa Mindanao? Meron pa bang naiwan o baka inubos na ng Arroyo administrasyon?” tanong ni Liberal Party Senatorial Candidate Teacher Neric Acosta.
Utilize government funds to solve power crisis
Acosta stresses the importance of using taxpayers’ money on plans and programs that should have equipped every region of the country with measures to counteract the ill effects of the El Nino phenomenon. “There is the annual budget under the 2010 General Appropriations Act that can be mobilized and utilized by this government but what is Arroyo doing? Or were these funds channeled again to money-making ventures that would fund her candidacy in Pampanga? Kung walang corrupt, walang power crisis!”
“The rotating brownouts in Mindanao which now last up to eight hours is really alarming! The hydroelectric power plants now have a deficiency of 650 MW. Government agencies concerned ought to have been prepared for this.” Presently, the El Nino phenomenon has dramatically affected the water levels in dams powering the hydroelectric plants to drop below the critical level. Acosta believes that contingency plans as well as mitigating measures must be implemented to reduce the occurrences of power outages that last up to eight hours in majority of the areas in Mindanao.
Higher electricity rates in Mindanao
“Solutions to this problem should have been prepared as early as December last year when signs of El Nino have become clear and evident,” says Acosta. Now, the Arroyo government plans to use several power barges to Mindanao that would raise the current cost of electricity from P3.50 per kilowatt hour to P7.00 per kilowatt hour. Why will the people of Mindanao be punished and pay for the Arroyo government’s neglect and incompetence? Acosta lamented that the Mindanaoans should not be made to pay for the additional cost of electricity per kilowatt.
