RESIDENTS of Negros Oriental will no longer have to worry about paying for expensive fees to avail of the gold standard reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for Covid-19.
This benefit comes from the provincial government’s decision to allocate the P18 million worth of total remittances that it has received from the Department of Energy (DOE), from Lopez-led renewable energy leader Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and its power subsidiary Green Core Geothermal, Inc. (GCGI), as part of its Energy Regulations (ER) No. 1-94 funds.
The said fund is part of the province’s Energy Regulations (ER) No. 1-94 benefit as host to EDC’s 222.5 megawatts (MW) Southern Negros geothermal facility, including its Green Core Geothermal, Inc. (GCGI) subsidiary in Valencia, Negros Oriental. Section 5(i) of RA 7638 (DOE Act of 1992); Section 66 of RA 9136 (EPIRA of 2001); DOE DC 2018-08-0021 requires energy generation companies and/or energy resource developers to directly provide their ER1-94 benefits equivalent to one centavo per kilowatt-hour (P0.01/kWh) of the total electricity sales to their host communities. The amendment intends to accelerate their socio-economic development and have more efficient utilization of funds, which used to be released by the DOE.
EDC and GCGI transferred about P9.6 million worth of ER1-94 funds to the Provincial Government of Negros Oriental for the period of 1Q 2020 - 1Q 2021. These funds can be utilized by the Provincial Government to respond to the Covid-19 crisis that our country and the rest of the world have been battling with since last year.
Meanwhile, the DOE has likewise downloaded over P21 million of funds to the Province in 2020 from its EDC and GCGI share of one centavo per kilowatt-hour (P0.01/kWh) as covered by RA 9136 (the Electric Power Industry Reforms Act of 2001) and RA 9513 (Renewable Energy Act of 2008). This benefit provides the host province with 30% of the P0.005/kWh for the Development and Livelihood Fund (DLF), and the Reforestation, Watershed Management, Health and/or Environment Enhancement Fund (RWHMEEF).
Negros Oriental Governor Roel Ragay Degamo has already approved the purchase of consumables for the Negros Oriental Province Hospital (NOPH) Molecular Laboratory.
"We are continuously grateful to EDC for the help and support they have provided us when we were putting up the laboratory last year; and even until today when the laboratory is fully functional. They continuously extend help through the provision of consumables in order for the laboratory to continue testing for Covid-19, given that we are currently the only lab catering to Negros Oriental for now,” said Dr. Nikko Paolo Cablao, a pathologist and head of NOPH Molecular Laboratory. “Without EDC’s help, we might still be sending our samples to Cebu which takes around 4 to 7 days for results to come back."
Dr. Cablao has confirmed that local residents who will be tested as part of contact tracing, symptomatics, and those who will be confined in the hospitals will be able to avail of free swab tests, that normally cost P3,200. Meanwhile, travelers will still be required to pay the fee to avail of the RT-PCR test.
This ER1-94 benefit from EDC and GCGI that is being used to enable free swab tests for residents is in addition to the state-of-the-art RT-PCR machines and peripherals that EDC has provided to help the Negros Oriental put up its own molecular laboratory, which is crucial to managing the Covid-19 pandemic. With the two RT-PCR machines that can process up to 200 swab tests per day, the laboratory is now able to expedite the processing of Covid-19 swab samples, with results released within the day unlike before when tests were sent to the nearest molecular laboratory in Cebu and released after about 10 days.
A few days ago, EDC has also turned over P5.6 million worth of additional support to Negros Oriental in the form of RT-PCR Detection and Extraction Test Kits and other consumables also for the NOPH Molecular Laboratory.
“We are glad to not only provide this ER1-94 benefit to the province of Negros Oriental, which has been one of EDC’s foremost partners in progress for almost 40 years but to also be able to directly transmit the funds at a difficult time like this when it is needed the most considering the health and economic crisis that we have all been trying to conquer since last year,” said Norreen G. Bautista, head of EDC’s Corporate Social Responsibility team in Negros.
“Keeping the lights on, for us in EDC, is not only about providing clean, reliable power. It is also about giving others hope, especially during this time of pandemic, and this is what we strive to do in partnership with Governor Degamo, Dr. Liland Estacion-head of Negros Oriental’s IATF, and Dr. Cablao’s team through our Covid-19 assistance,” added Bautista
EDC owns and operates the 222.5-megawatt Negros geothermal facility, the company’s 2nd biggest site located in Negros Oriental that has been providing uninterrupted supply of clean, renewable power to Negros Island and to the rest of the Visayas region for almost 40 years. (PR)