Seeking permanent solutions to Mindanao problem

The bombing of Davao City’s International Airport was undoubtedly devastating news to many of us, especially because it comes at a time when Davao City has fully recovered from its past peace and order problems where even the San Pedro church was bombed… Agdao was known as the "killing fields". Before this latest bombing, Davao City even bested Cebu City as "the most livable City in the Philippines" in that Asiaweek survey where it bagged 14th place. Thanks to the efforts of strong-willed Mayor Rodrigo Duterte he has done great things for Davao… until this bombing.

This incident once more brings us to the Mindanao question. Is it a mere problem with Muslim autonomy? If so, how do we solve it? There’s no question that the solution to the Mindanao problem is not through a military solution. However, it is quite frustrating to know that there seems to be no political solution in the offing. In the meantime, what Mindanao needs today is simple enforcement of our laws… especially with regards people carrying firearms.

I mean, why should someone in Cebu or Manila caught carrying a cal.22 paltik revolver be sent to jail, but a member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) carrying an RPG or Armalite get away with it? Just because they use their women and children as human shields? Believe me, people in Cebu want to have a permanent solution to the Mindanao question even if it means going to war. But does our political establishment have the stomach for war, especially when the Muslims won’t hesitate using their own kin as human shields? They have done this in the past and the military offensive is stopped. This is why there can be no clear solution to the Mindanao problem.

* * * A few weeks ago, we were reminded in a column by Manong Max Soliven, publisher of the Philippine Star that 17 years after the EDSA revolt… the Filipino people were still paying for that confounded Bataan Nuclear plant because the new kids on the block (those who opposed Marcos who were now in power) pointed an accusing finger that this was the biggest corruption scam of the Marcos dictatorship.

To top it all, environmentalists had a field day trying to stop a nuclear plant from being erected supposedly on a fault line. In the end, the Filipino people continue to suffer power outages and worse of all, we’re still paying for that nuclear plant and today, no earthquake ever occurred in the area and on top of it… no one was imprisoned for this supposedly corrupt deal… there’s not even a single case or trial on this supposed scam. Yes, this article and my interview on the power situation in the Visayas was triggered by no less than President Arroyo (GMA) when she warned that if the Transco franchise bill is not passed soon, the Visayas will be plunged into serious power outages. I’m just curious, why isn’t anyone making noise on this?

Hence, we discussed the power situation on my talkshow, Straight from the Sky a few weeks ago with our good friends, Zoilo Cortes of VECO, Roger Lim of East Asia Utilities and Ben Ypil of Transco because we know too well that without power, there can be no progress. One of the big questions we asked is, Whether there is excess electricity supply in the Visayas, specifically the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid? Of course, the answer from our friends is a big fat "No"! The reason for that is, the Island of Panay is seriously short of electricity, they have daily brownouts or power outages and whatever excess there is available from Negros or Cebu are sent to Panay during the daytime.

While our power supply is at best precarious, we know for a fact that there is excess capacity in the Leyte-Togonan Geothermal Plant, which produces some 600 megawatts, of which only 180 megawatts are sent to the Island of Cebu thanks to the limited capacity of the submarine cable inter-connect which can carry only a maximum of 180 megawatts. Of the 180 megawatts sent via the submarine cable, only 100 megawatts are available for Cebu’s use because the 80 is sent to the Negros—Panay grid to help their power shortages.

Today, the total power demand of Cebu province and Mactan Island is a little over 400 megawatts. The supply for Cebu comes from five sources, as follows: 70 megawatts from Mirant in Toledo. 66 megawatts from Cebu Power in Carbon, Cebu City, 42 megawatts from East Asia in Mactan. 150 megawatts from Salcon in Naga, 100 megawatts out of 180 from Leyte-Cebu interconnect… a total of 428 megawatts for the entire province and cities of Cebu.

God forbid if any of these power plants conk out and Cebu will dangerously be in short of supply. Mind you, the Negros—Palimpinon Geothermal plant is not supplying Cebu during the day or in peak hours. As for the Island of Mactan, they have no excess power supply there. Its current peak demand is only 78 megawatts and the National Power Corporation (NPC) supply through the old Mactan Bridge is only 48 megawatts. Thus, any shortfall is supplied by East Asia as revealed to us by Roger Lim during the show.