National greed strikes again

I was about to sleep Tuesday evening when the neighborhood experienced power failure. I had to quickly get up again to turn off the air conditioning and then rush down to the kitchen to pull the plug of the refrigerator. Power failures and the surge when power is restored are tough on the appliances and you can’t even send your repair bills to the power companies.

Power came back after an hour or so only to go off again at least three more times during the course of the night. For some reason, I wake up every time this happens. Good thing I didn’t bother going down to the kitchen to plug back the refrigerator after power was restored the first time.

What is going on here? How can there be power failure in the middle of the night when demand is at an absolute low? Well, it turned out the problem was not a case of short supply but more of busted facilities of the National Grid Corp. at their Sucat sub-station. The incident happened Monday evening but apparently they have failed to fix the problem the whole day Tuesday because we were having this power failure Tuesday midnight to early morning Wednesday.

The last time something like this happened, it was also National Grid facilities that malfunctioned. Sometime in October last year, busted transformers were the problem. And we had to suffer rotating blackouts for over a week too because National Grid didn’t have spare transformers. They were trying to fix the problem using scotch tape and epoxy, it seemed, and took a lot of time.

The irony is… National Grid was fattened up before it was privatized so that the private concessionaire will be attractive enough. The very reason it was privatized is because government may not have the resources to make serious capex outlays that are needed almost immediately.

National Grid has no excuse for its inability to fix their facilities. It had a net income of P17 billion or $400 million for 2009 and expected to earn at least P20 billion or $450 million for 2010. No wonder Ricky Razon’s Monte Oro was able to exit with a hefty return on its investment. Officially, the deal with Henry Sy Jr.’s company is supposed to be $350 million but sources say it is really anywhere from $590 million to as high as $800 million.

The point is, National Grid cannot use lack of funds for its failure to provide keep vital spare parts and equipment in storage. It also has no excuse delaying the upgrade of the facilities because we needed those upgrades years before the power backbone was privatized and the winning bidder knew that before submitting its bid.

Of course, National Grid can cite the delay in the approval of their proposal to spend capex on the Energy Regulatory Board. I understand that they have asked the ERB to approve P4.5 billion worth of electricity transmission projects as well as the authority to recover the cost of the transmission projects from its consumers. The ERC should give them the provisional authority to proceed with the projects, if it has not done this yet, and just scrutinize the computations later.

We now have the worse of everything in the power sector. High power costs and now unreliable power supply will make our investment climate worse even under a popular new President. For those of us who support the concept of privatization, we also have nothing positive to show for it in the case of the power grid. Thus far, all that privatization has achieved was to add to the unreliability and incompetence under government, the greed of the private sector.

That’s not good at all. I mean National Greed.

Help wanted

In his blog, former banker Leo Alejandrino drafted this memo to the search committee from P-Noy. He raises very good points.

Memo: To the Search Committee

From: The President

I am seeking some good and honest men for Government. Here is what I expect:

1. No entitlements – Nobody is entitled to a job just because he worked in the campaign, funded our operation, is related to me, we went to school or drank together or is Kris’ friend. Same goes for anybody who claims we once dated.

2. No superstars – Applicants flashing fancy credentials need to check them in at the door together with their egos (they invariably go hand in hand). My team has no stars. We speak with one voice, my voice.

Similarly avoid controversial candidates. I do not want to spend scarce political capital defending our choice when somebody else will do.

3. No personal agenda – Exclude anybody looking for fame, fortune, or elected office. This Administration is not about us, it is about the nation.

4. Loyalty – Candidates should be loyal first to the country, second to this Government. We will be undertaking bold initiatives that may sometimes fail. When this happens I want appointees that, if required, will offer to fall on their swords as atonement. They should not take it personally. It is just business.

5. Doers, not talkers – We will be judged not by what we say but by what we do. I want candidates that will translate PowerPoint presentations into stuff the common man can relate to. Our standard of performance should not be some economic statistic like GDP growth but whether we have tangibly improved the lives of the average Filipino. Better education, cleaner water, safer streets are not captured in the economic numbers.

6. Enforcers – Every team needs a Dennis Rodman, an enforcer that gains one respect. Find me some alpha types that will not only take on criminals but also the bureaucracy. More is lost by inefficiencies and corruption in government than by smugglers and tax evaders. We need managers that can unclog the system, battle entrenched interests, blow-off politicians. Give me some tough guys with street smarts.

7. No whiners – We inherited a mess from the last Administration but having made the point we need to move on. Don’t hire managers that will continue to dwell on the excess baggage as an excuse for non-performance.

8. Look within – One of my priorities is to rebuild the quality and morale of and pride in our civil service. For high office, past administrations have too often bypassed long-standing civil servants in favor of outsiders. Foreign Affairs with its obscene handing out of political ambassadorships; is such an example. There are good public officials that have worked hard all their lives and now deserve their place in the sun. Look within the ranks before looking out.

9. Lateral thinkers – I was voted in on a mandate of change, so change we must deliver. Business as usual, incremental steps no longer cut it. The nation wants daring initiatives, quantum improvements. This requires a shift in mindset: Give me candidates that will govern smarter, get more out of less, allocate our resources more intelligently, think out of the box. Give me candidates with imagination.

10. Two questions – All candidates must answer the following questions under oath: Why are they applying for public office? What difference can they make to the Filipino? Betrayal of their first answer will be subject to prosecution, failure of the second to dismissal.

To be tall, it is said, one needs to stand on the shoulders of giants. Search Committee, find me these giants.

Gender preference

PhilStar reader Norbert Goldie contributed this one.

A woman walked into the kitchen to find her husband stalking around with a fly swatter.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Hunting flies,” he responded.

“Oh! Killing any?” she asked.

“Yep, three males, two females,” he replied.

Intrigued, she asked. “How can you tell them apart?”

“Easy,” he answered, “three were on a beer can, two were on the phone.”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . This and some past columns can also be viewed at www.boochanco.com <http://www.boochanco.com/>