Young militants slam Aquino’s ‘solution’ to Mindanao power crisis

A MILITANT youth organization over the weekend sharply criticized the Aquino administration about its “solution” to the Mindanao power crisis.

The group Kabataan in northern Mindanao said President Aquino’s “solution” is to make consumers “pay higher power rates or live with the rotating [blackouts].”

“You have to pay more because this is the reality of economics, not the rhetoric of politics. Everything has its price,” the group quoted Aquino as saying.

“He is passing the buck to the people, where in fact, resolving the power crisis in Mindanao is a state responsibility,” said Vennel Francis Chenfoo, one of the leaders of Kabataan.

Chenfoo said that in the past years, major cities in Mindanao–Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Zamboanga–have been forced to endure rotating blackouts on several occasions.

He said the crisis is adversely affecting Mindanaoans, and a blackout is feared to take place even on election day. He said this would mean that votes may not be appropriately counted due to an indefinite power shutdown.

“Ever since, the consumers have already been paying at higher rates, yet they still experience rotating blackouts,” Chenfoo said. “This power crisis… gives us a clear context of the state’s incapability in resolving this issue.”

Kabataan noted that Aquino and the Department of Energy (DOE) led the Mindanao Power Summit in 2012 and agreed with 13 recommendations aimed at accelerating the rehabilitation of Mindanao power plants to resolve power crisis.

The group said the Aquino administration failed to act on the recommendations, and instead “focused on urging consumers to pay higher electricity prices.”

“Three years have passed since the summit, yet Aquino and the DOE have remained lackadaisical in pursuing the recommendations,” Chenfoo said.

His group called for the scrapping of RA 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) which put power industries under the control of private companies.

Kabataan said that instead of prioritizing the development of renewable energy, the Aquino administration used the power crisis to justify the entry of more coal-fired power plants.

“We urge the Aquino administration to scrap Epira and return the power sector to the effective control of the state. The Filipino people have the right to benefit from basic social services and should not be deprived to use it,” Chenfoo said.