Solon welcomes gov’t decision to defer Welfareville sale

Opposition Senator Tessie Aquino Oreta welcomed Malacañang’s order to "indefinitely postpone" the sale of the government’s Welfareville property in Mandaluyong City where the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) building stands, even as she hoped that President Arroyo would also defer the privatization of the state’s power transmission assets at a time when these facilities are expected to fetch only bargain basement prices in the international market.

Instead of pushing through with the "midnight madness sale" of assets in the energy and health sectors, Oreta said the Palace should redirect its focus to education and other essential services, like expanding the coverage of the government’s health insurance program and speeding up the expanding the coverage of the government’s health insurance program and speeding up the implementation of missionary electrification projects to light up public schools in "electricity-less" barrios.

"These are the kind of programs that Malacañang should be focusing on instead of making a mad rush to dispose of the Welfareville property and the power transmission asset held by the Transco (National Transmission Cotp.)." Oreta said. "Redirecting government attention to basic education, primary health care and other essential services will effectively attack poverty, stimulate growth and create jobs because these and other forms of human capital development raise the productivity of labor, which is main asset and income source of the poor."

The senator issued the statement amid reports that President Arroyo has deferred the sale of the Welfareville property until all issue concerning the displacement of NCMH employees, the hospital’s patients and the squatters near the property are resolved.

Oreta hoped that the President would make a similar move in the case of the Transco assets, which are up for privatization early next year despite having failed to attract competitive bids from investors owing to the country’s worsening political and economic slide.

"Because energy officials expect the Transco bidding to receive lukewarm interest from investors, especially in the absence of a congressional franchise, they would be better off focusing their attention on finding ways to speed up rural electrification projects that would light up public schools in remote barangays with no electricity," Oreta said.

Underscoring the urgent need to light up "electricity-less" schools, Oreta pointed to studies done by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program showing that children in electricified homes study 48 minutes longer per day and get to complete two more years of formal education than those in unlighted homes.

People living in lighted barangays end up better educated and get higher wages, according to the study, she said.