MANILA -- Representative Kimi Cojuangco (fifth district, Pangasinan) re-filed the pet bill of his husband, former congressman Mark, seeking the rehabilitation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).
Cojuangco filed Tuesday: "An act mandating an immediate validation process which satisfies international accepted nuclear power industry norms to determine the BNPP's operability culminating in either the immediate rehabilitation, certification and commercial operation or, the immediate permanent closure and salvage value recovery, of the BNPP, appropriating funds therefore, and for other purposes." The bill, if passed, shall be known as the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant of 2010.
The similar bill was authored by Mark, who was the congressman of the same district. Mark is the cousin of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.
House Bill (HB) No. 4631 of Mark mandating the re-commissioning and commercial operation of the nuclear power plant evolved into HB 6300 after it passed approval by the Committee on Energy which was then referred to the plenary for second reading but failed to pass into a law.
At the Congressional hearing last February, the former congressman failed to prove his case and was scrutinized after citing articles from the Web and the Wikipedia as basis for his claims.
In the bill filed by incumbent congresswoman Kimi, she said that the passing of the measure is timely in view of an impending power crisis which was already felt in the summer of this year.
“Such a power crisis would put a cap on any economic development and growth, which we may be having due to our new found political stability, confidence and positive outlook, if not outright sabotaging our gains and setting us back in our struggle for prosperity," she added. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)