Having done that, I want to assure GMA loyalists that I am an admirer of the president for, outside the unlamented Marcos dictatorship, GMA has accomplished the most projects in Mindanao.
Of course, that is my personal evaluation and you need not agree with me.
What's GIGA? It is and acronym for Generating Investments in Geothermal Areas. I still have not seen a copy of the administrative order which the president signed in an auspicious ceremony held at Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy's Kingdom of Jesus Christ the Name Above Every Name spiritual Shangri-La but from what I can remember from her speech is that the AO directs local government units to create economic zones near geothermal plants.
The idea is to entice investors, local or foreign, to set up processing plants that consumes a lot of electric energy. The objectives are multi-pronged.
Generate local employment, provide cheap electricity to locators, and subsidize electric consumption of marginalized sector in the community. The LGUs can demand royalties and if the economic zone is situated in the ancestral domain, a percentage of the revenues generated from the GIGA can go to the Indigenous Peoples.
Contrary to Pete Lavina's knee-jerk reaction to GIGA, the president never said that only foreign investors could avail of the incentives. It's a level playing field so any Tomas-Ricardo-and-Haring Gangis can take advantage of the economic zone incentives.
But of course, this is not as easy as it looks. Some of the GIGA locations being eyed are within protected areas. There are concerns there. But the ecozones need not be adjacent to the geothermal plants. This can be defined by the LGU where the geothermal energy is derived. So let's not take up issues that GIGA will be another environmental threat. Or that the anitos will be angry if the steam from the bowels of the earth will be tapped to generate electricity. Funny, but even the religious are making an issue about anitos and I don't mean the steamy motel in Pasay.
I had wished that GIGA included waterfalls. I do not buy the environmentalist militants' line that tapping waterfalls for hydroelectric power generators will harm the ecological balance or destroy the natural beauty around them.
I have seen Maria Cristina and I have seen Katibawasan falls in Camiguin. Maria Cristina is site of hydropower generators but the rainforest surrounding it is well preserved. Until today it remains to be one of the majestic views in northern Mindanao. The waterfalls in Camiguin Island are not tapped for anything except that it is being peddled as a tourist site. However, the place is ravaged with all kinds of garbage strewn around it not to mention the ugly talipapas that are around the falls.
Take a long and closer look at Maria Cristina falls and there is nothing there that suggests the place is damaged by exploitation. It remains virginal and for as long as it is closely guarded by National Power Corporation, the waterfalls will remain unspoiled. And yet, it lights practically the entire island of Mindanao.
And so I say GIGA go! Or go GIGA!
BTW, today is the promulgation of the verdict on the plunder charges against ex-president Joseph Estrada. Guilty or not, this should serve lessons to politicians who think of nothing but to fatten their pockets.
Erap has served over six years in a jail of comfort. They even call it a resort. But this special treatment is not for everybody. So do not attempt to follow the footsteps of your idol.
