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Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Cash subsidy for small power users proposed
MANILA -- The Presidential Task Force on Energy recommended the one-time grant of a P500 cash subsidy for the lifeline beneficiaries or consumers with minimum consumption of electricity nationwide, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said.
Lifeline consumers refer to electricity users consuming less than 100-kilowatt hour in a month.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also ordered all government departments, agencies, offices, and corporations to continue adopting energy conservation measures.
Savings to be generated from the said measures will be used for additional rice and transportation allowances of the government employees.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the chairman of the Philippine National Oil Company-Development and Management Corporation (PNOC-DMC) and the budget secretary were tapped to jointly monitor this program and report to the President every quarter.
Ermita said all local government units (LGUs) are also encouraged to do the same.
Cabral said the P2 billion, which would be derived from the P4 billion value added tax (VAT) proceeds, was intended for the cash transfer program where the poorest of the poor is given monthly allowance by the government.
She said under the amended proposal, the P500 would benefit about four million lifeline consumers that are served by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and the electric cooperatives.
"Each small electricity user would be given a cash subsidy of P500 to aid them in the electrical expenses that they are incurring because of the increase in electrical price. In the rural areas, the conduit for the P500 cash transfer would be the rural electrical cooperatives. In the Meralco franchise areas, the conduit would be the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and its branches all over Metro Manila, as well as in Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog Region," she said.
Ermita said the proposal is still for the President's approval but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had already made the P2 billion for the lifeline assistance available.
Cabral hoped that the one-time assistance would be implemented soon to cover the next "billing period."
Ermita said another P1 billion intended for scholarships and student loans through the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) has also been made available by the DBM, pending approval from the President.
He said the P1 billion is part of the proposals to be submitted to the President. The P1 billion is also part of the P4 billion VAT proceeds.
The remaining P1 billion was intended for the conversion fund to assist public utility transportation vehicles in converting their diesel engines into compress natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas-enable engines, but it has yet to be discussed by the task force.
Ched Chairman Romulo Neri said the scholarship and student loan program would be launched on Thursday at the Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (Earist).
Neri said the program would cover not just state universities and colleges (SUCs) but also poor but deserving students from private higher institutions of learning.
He said the P1 billion is subdivided to P500 million for scholarships and another P500 million for student loans.
"We will do this all over the country, not only for SUCs but also for private schools, the target really are the students coming from poor families so this will help them also tide their expenses during this hard time," he added.
Neri said they are now awaiting the reports from the Ched regional offices for the list of student beneficiaries.
Arroyo would lead Tuesday the low-consumption households project or the "Katas ng VAT Pantawid Kuryente" program in Malacañang. (JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (June 3, 2008 issue)
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