Power crisis a farce: FDC

THE much touted power crisis is nothing but a spin to make people more receptive to intrusive power investments like coal power and mega dams like the Pulangi V in fragile environments.

This was the contention of Salvador Feranil of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) during the forum on the Pulangi V Mega-dam last week at the Mindanao Training and Resource Center sponsored by the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID).

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"According to the Asian Development Bank, average capacity utilization of Transco (Transmission Corporation) is only around 22 percent," he said, even as he called for more transparency since real data about power supply status in the country are hard to come by.

In his presentation, Feranil said that no less than the Department of Energy (DOE) has reported a total of 15,937 megawatts (MW) installed capacity as of 2007 and a 13,205 MW dependable capacity of which, only 8,986 MW is the highest utilization at peak demand.

"But then, we pay for capacity we don't use, it's there in the generation cost," he said.

Meaning to say, the inefficiency that ADB assessed the government's role in the power sector is being passed on to the consumers at no cost to the giant companies that are monopolizing the power industry.

Feranil cautioned against the crisis situation being painted pointing out that while power distribution and generation have been privatized as mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, these are in fact in the hands of very few groups, including those who have close ties with the former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

He further scoffed at the Pulangi V project pointing out that the rotational brownouts experienced by Mindanao for several months in the early part of the year was because of lack of water, most likely due to climate change, thus building a mega-dam at the time when hydroelectric plants can barely generate power because of undependable sources doesn't sound like a valid idea.

Pulangi V Mega-dam is a multi-million project in Bukidnon that threatens to displace indigenous peoples on whose ancestral land the dam will be constructed.

The dam is being touted to increase power supply and thus address the so-called power crisis in Mindanao, but this is being opposed by the lumads of Cotabato and Bukidnon who will be affected by the project.

"Sa amoa nga level sa mga lumad, usa ra ang gusto nami mahitabo, nga dili madayon ang dam (We, the lumads only have one call, that this dam project will be stopped)," Manobo tribal leader Datu Wilmar Ampuan said in the same forum.

The project will flood vast tracts of land, which are the lumads' ancestral domain, source of livelihood, and sacred burial grounds.

Datu Ampuan added that the project will not benefit the lumads since only around 20 percent of the tribes are using electricity, of which a considerable number of those with electricity are using solar energy.

The IID describes the dam as an example of development aggression "where government's economic and development policies and sponsored projects bring about environmental harm, destroy the livelihoods, violate human rights, (and) irreversibly damage the culture and identity of the affected communities." (Stella A. Estremera)