Thursday,Jul 23 2009, 08:15:11 AMNOGRALES,REYES,DOH and NASECORE at KAPIHAN

Nograles, Reyes, DoH and Nasecore at Kapihan

Never fear, the House of Representatives will not convene as a constituent assembly (Con-ass) to amend the Constitution during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address next Monday, Speaker Prospero Nograles assured the Kapihan sa Manila last Monday. It was former Speaker Jose de Venecia who warned of this “plot” last week.

“Not true,” Nograles said. Maybe that is what he would do if he were still speaker, Nograles added, but not me.

Asked why he is still pushing his resolution calling for a Con-ass despite the fact that a recent opinion poll showed that 70 percent of Filipinos don’t want Charter change (Cha-cha) and that congressmen are supposed to represent the people, Nograles replied that if the people really don’t want it, their representatives will obey their wishes.

But the survey question was phrased erroneously, he said. The question was: “Do you agree to a Cha-cha that would extend the term of President Arroyo?” That was misleading, Nograles said. Why did they have to tie up Arroyo’s term with Cha-cha? If you phrase the question that way, naturally the people would say no. But those who are against term extension are not necessarily against Cha-cha.

“I can assure the people that there will be no term extension of anybody—from the President down to the mayor—in case there is a Cha-cha,” Nograles promised.

“But why are you pushing for a Charter amendment that would allow the sale of Philippine lands to foreigners when you can see that Filipinos are ready to die for a piece of land?” the Speaker was asked. “Besides, foreign companies can already lease land, as they have already done with thousands of hectares in Mindoro?”

“It was because of the 60-40 arrangement in a joint venture. A foreign company is usually asked to foot the bigger portion of the capital of a joint venture,” Nograles explained. “But it is limited to only 40 percent of the fruits of the joint venture. Isn’t that unfair? It is what stops foreigners from investing in the Philippines. I want that provision removed from the Constitution.”

“But why can’t you wait until after the elections to amend the Charter?” the Speaker was asked. “The people are afraid the presidential term would be extended or the system of government transformed to parliamentary to allow Arroyo to be prime minister. Obviously, the people do not trust the congressmen and the President.”

“The people have become paranoid. I don’t blame them for that and I can’t help it. But I assure you there is no such plan,” Nograles replied.

Nograles unveiled a list of 44 priority bills pending in the House which included the right-of-reply bill, an electricity rate reduction bill and amendments to the Oil Deregulation Law. He said 70 percent of these would be passed before Congress adjourns.
Speaking of electric rates, Pete Ilagan, president of the National Association of Electricity Consumers (Nasecore), who was also a guest at the Kapihan, complained that Meralco is again taking advantage of the consumers. By law, the profit of Meralco is limited to a certain percentage of its investment under the new performance-based rate setting system. To increase its investment, Meralco raised its power rates by 25 centavos per kilowatt-hour. This latest rate increase means an additional collection of P500 million a month.

Meralco plans to borrow P8 billion from a syndicate of banks to refinance loans falling due this year until 2013, Ilagan said. It announced in a press statement that it would pay for the new P8 billion loan “from internally generated funds based on its estimated additional monthly revenues of P500 million.”

“Foul!” said Ilagan. That P500 million should be declared as “consumers’ equity.” They are not additional investments by Meralco’s stockholders. The Supreme Court has defined the “rate base (as) the value of invested capital or property (to) which the utility is entitled to a return.” Since the additional P500 million monthly revenues is not invested capital but collected from consumers, it cannot be considered as part of the rate base to which Meralco is entitled to a return, Ilagan said. That is consumers’ equity.

Another guest, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, said that he is in favor of amending the Oil Deregulation Law. He explained that under the present deregulated industry, the DoE is powerless to stop oil companies from increasing prices. “There cannot be any price controls,” he said. “Competition from among the many oil companies is supposed to keep prices down.”

“But that is not happening because the Philippine market is dominated by the Big Three,” Reyes noted. “The rest are Lilliputian compared to them. So the dominant prices depend on the Big Three. Even when some of the small players sell at lower prices, they don’t have any impact on the market because they are so small and few. The Oil Deregulation Law should be amended to allow price controls during an open-ended transition period when new players are building up size to realistically compete with the Big Three.”

Speaking of price controls, Dr. Vito G. Roque Jr. of the National Epidemiology Center of the Department of Health (DoH) said that the executive order setting price controls for some essential medicines would be issued this week.

But Congress and Malacañang are like the mountain that labored and brought forth a mouse. After Congress labored for many months to pass the Cheaper Medicines Act, Malacañang is coming out with maximum retail prices (MRPs) for only six brands of medicines. The pharmaceutical companies submitted lists for voluntary price reductions for medicines most of which are not on the DoH list. At least two of them are no longer being sold here. In other words, the multinational drug firms are again pulling our legs.

Thursday,Jul 23 2009, 06:30:31 AMERC hit for 'bias' on meter deposits refunds

ERC hit for ‘bias’ on meter deposit refunds
By Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:05:00 06/09/2008 ...

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• July 2009 (2)