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Saturday, November 22, 2003
Editorial: Cooperation
It’s good that some sectors, particularly the Cebu business community, are trying to put order into the effort to prevent a possible power crisis resulting from the
admitted instability of power supply in the island in the next 15 months.
The so-called Voluntary Load Curtailment Program is starting to take effect with an initial five big power users agreeing to shed loads or use less power during peak hours. The trick is to use their generating sets during critical hours.
This, hopefully, will prod the other big power users here to do the same (Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Carlos Co promised to do the convincing).
But surely, that is not enough to solve the problem. There is the need, for example, for homeowners to also do their share by lessening power consumption, especially in a season that is, by tradition, power use intensive.
Among the suggestions is lessening the number of Christmas and other lights and even to shut these out during peak hours.
Meaning, there should be a renewed awareness of the need to save electricity–an awareness many forgot when power supply in Cebu was not yet a problem (the past years, for example, we reveled in the “brightness” of our Christmas celebration).
But while soliciting the help of the various sectors to prevent a possible power crisis is laudable, its success depends on how these sectors perceive the way concerned government officials are addressing the problem.
They must be shown that government officials are keeping their end of the bargain by working honestly and hard to look for solutions and delivering on the promise that things will get better after the solutions are in place.
If not, these sectors will feel they are the ones punished for the bungling and incompetence of government-and will thus not cooperate with it to the fullest.
Opposition
That Vice Mayor Michael Rama and the majority bloc in the Cebu City Council merely kept their peace after Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña lambasted them for questioning his recent deals is not totally unexpected.
Indeed, there were those who hoped Rama and the majority in the Council would continue what they started, especially on their attempt to straighten out the kinks relative to the operation of One Citilink Terminal.
But hope is different from reality.
The reality is, Rama and the majority in the council are members of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) headed by the mayor. Surely, they could not pretend to fiscalize without breaking the party apart.
Besides, with the 2004 elections just a few months away, Rama and the majority in the Council must dance to the tune that Osmeña plays. After all, their survival in the elections is tied to their staying with the BO-PK.
With the hands of Rama and the majority in the Council tied, the more should the opposition have played a greater role in the fiscalizing. They should have picked up the slack when Rama and the majority in the Council started turning around.
(November 22, 2003 issue)
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