Group seeks to block sale of power assets

The Freedom from Debt Coalition has urged concerned stakeholders to take a collective stand against the privatization of the remaining power plants in the country to help protect the interests of the consuming public.

In a statement, FDC president Ricardo Reyes identified these facilities as the 246-megawatt Angat hydroelectric power plant in Norzagaray, the 640-MW Unified Leyte geothermal complex and the Agus-Pulangi hydro-complexes in Mindanao.

“Why sell Angat Dam? It is the single most important water source of Metro Manila as it provides 97 percent of the water needs of at least 12 million residents of the country’s capital. It also irrigates some 31,000 hectares of farms across 20 towns and municipalities in Bulacan and Pampanga,” Reyes said.

“Why sell the hydro-complexes of Agus-Pulangi? It provides more than 50 percent of electricity, not to mention the cheapest electricity, in Mindanao. The Unified Leyte geothermal complex also provides cheap electricity to our ‘kababayan’ in Eastern Visayas. More importantly, these power plants do not use fossil fuel and do not contribute to climate change. These are national treasures that should remain public,” Reyes added.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, the Agus-Pulangi hydropower complex and the independent power producer administrator contract for the Unified Leyte must be sold and transferred to the private sector.

The Angat facility was earlier auctioned off and was supposed to be turned over to a Korean firm, K-Water last year. But the Supreme Court issued in May 2010 a “status quo ante order” against the sale of the Angat hydroelectric power plant to K-Water. It also later denied the plea of the state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to lift the restriction.

Petitioners stressed that PSALM acted with grave abuse of discretion when it proceeded with the bidding process without having previously released to the public critical information pertinent to the sale of the public asset, such as terms and conditions of the disposition.

The groups further claimed that PSALM also violated the Constitution when it allowed K-Water, a foreign state-owned corporation, to participate in the bidding process.—Amy R. Remo