CRISIS
MANILA, MARCH 29, 2012 (PHILSTAR) EDITORIAL - There will be no
blackouts in Metro Manila, the government assured the public, despite the
breakdown of a key power transformer in Las Piñas last Tuesday.
After expressing "serious concern" over the reliability of power
transmission in southern Metro Manila, the Manila Electric Co. for its part gave
assurance that while it could take up to three weeks to restore power
transmission to normal, it would prevent prolonged power outages.
Meralco issued the statement as President Aquino presided over a meeting at
Malacañang on the power situation particularly in Mindanao, which has been
suffering from rotating blackouts that last up to 15 hours.
The breakdown of the transformer in Las Piñas and the possibility of
blackouts at the peak of summer should remind the national leadership that power
supply throughout the country remains inadequate and unreliable.
And yet last year the Philippines also surpassed Japan in having the most
expensive electricity in Asia, at 18.1 centavos in US currency per kilowatt-hour
compared to Japan's 17.9 US cents as of February 2011.
The high cost of electricity has been one of the biggest disincentives to
foreign investment in this country; the inadequacy of power supply can only
compound the problem.
Both local and foreign businessmen have voiced concern for many years about
the problem, even as energy experts have issued several warnings about another
power crisis.
Now parts of Mindanao are going through what Metro Manila and several other
areas of Luzon suffered from 1991 to 1992: regular blackouts that energy
officials said yesterday could last until 2014, when new coal-fired power plants
are expected to finally come on stream.
Borrowing an emergency measure that worked in 1992, the government has
deployed power barges to Mindanao, but so far these have not been utilized.
Electricity from the barges is expensive, the demand is not enough to
guarantee a profitable operation, and independent power producers have been
burned by their previous dealings with the government.
Political bickering is also complicating the situation in Mindanao.
The government must move decisively before it finds itself confronting a
full-blown power crisis all the way to Metro Manila.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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