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Monday, April 11, 2005
Mongaya: Mum on danger lurking
By ANOL MONGAYA
THE old power plant in Palinpinon, Leyte has been out of the power loop in the Visayas for some time now because it is under repair. The National Power Corp. (Napocor), a little birdie said, has scheduled another old plant that runs on diesel fuel in Pinamucan, Panay as next. This situation reportedly forced Napocor to order Salcon in Naga to postpone a scheduled repair of one of its old plants.
I could still remember when Cebu suffered a power crisis when Napocor still managed the complex in Naga because the power plants were said to be old and needed replacement. Though Salcon Power Corp. managed to stretch the lifespan of the plants to around two decades now I think postponing the maintenance checkups of these facilities might cause its breakdown.
Just imagine what would happen to the Visayas grid, even with the extra power from Tongonan, if three plants break down at the same time. Grave danger lurks just around the corner.
Despite the grave danger, it seems power officials have been keeping from the public and local officials this precarious situation. I will not be surprised if they blame a kite as the culprit if something breaks down.
***
I think the Bush administration may have set its sights on Iran and North Korea as its next target. This I gleaned from the discussions on the proliferation of nuclear and chemical weapons in the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference in Metro Manila attended by some 1,300 parliamentarians.
Rep. Tony Cuenco (Cebu City, 1st district), who is a regular conference delegate, said briefing material had been distributed during the conference. I would just like to urge legislators to double check the claims in the so-called intelligence briefings after the intelligence failure on the supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Years after the invasion of Iraq, the Americans has not found any trace of the weapons.
Nevertheless, Filipino legislators are using the IPU to push their anti-poverty agenda. Cuenco said Speaker Joe de Venecia had proposed the creation of an anti-poverty fund that should harness the resources of rich countries to help the poor.
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Customs Enforcement and Security Service Director Nestorio Gualberto denied the existence of a communication gap between Customs District Collector Billy Bibit and Deputy Commissioner Celso Templo last week. At that moment when he said this, Gualberto reportedly was speaking the truth. According to the grapevine, somebody had patched up whatever differences Bibit had with Templo. Meanwhile, the Nastaf had also finished what critics described as “Operation Pakilala.”
(superbalita@sunstar.com.ph; anol_cebu@hotmail.com; 09179761193)
(April 11, 2005 issue)
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