Energy chief Almendras willing to resign

MANILA, Philippines - Energy Secretary Jose Almendras said Wednesday that he will step down from his post if President Benigno Aquino III sees that he cannot address the power crisis in Mindanao.

"Wala akong sinasabing wala akong kasalanan... We admit responsibility... I won't have problems if I'm asked to resign because I'm here to serve the nation. If the President says he has no confidence in me, then I will resign," Almendras said in a radio interview.

Almendras was reacting to calls from members of the House of Representatives for him to resign as energy chief over the continuing power shortage in Mindanao.

He said that while Mindanao is experiencing eight to 10 hours of blackouts, power shortage has not been an issue in Luzon and Visayas.

"Why is it that in Luzon you have over 2,000 megawatts in reserve power today, in the Visayas it reaches as much as 500 megawatts of excess power, and why is it in Mindanao we are short? In very simple terms, because people stopped building [power] generating plants in MIndanao," the energy chief said in a statement.

Almendras, meanwhile, scored some groups which have been circulating reports that the power shortage is only man-made or artificial.

"A lot of things are being said [about the issue] that are not accurate... We have information; we have facts to show that's why we are planning to organize a forum in Mindanao," he said.

The energy chief announced Tuesday that the power outages being experienced in Mindanao may worsen as the government will conduct an emergency repair of the Pulangui hydropower plant in Bukidnon, which will lessen the supply in the region.

“We will continue to experience the present levels of shortages up to May 9. We did not predict the need to shut down Pulangui” Almendras said.

Emergency powers

Almendras also said that he has reservations with the proposals to give President Aquino emergency powers to deal with the power shortage problem in Mindanao.

"Dapat alamin and features ng emergency powers... Ayaw naman nating dagdagan ang utang na babayaran ng tao," he said.

Malacañang said Tuesday that it is open to discussing proposals by some lawmakers to grant emergency powers to President Aquino.

“We will have to study the proposal when filed in the Lower House,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said yesterday. “As of the present time, the power situation is being addressed by the Department of Energy with the stakeholders in Mindanao.”

The President, speaking at the Euromoney Philippine Investment Forum in Makati City, said the Philippines is likely to meet the projected increase in demand for electricity sooner than expected through the government’s national renewable energy program.

Aquino appealed to the public to give the government more time to solve the power crisis, saying previous administrations had long neglected problems in the power sector.

The President told the forum that the country would need 15,500 megawatts by 2030, and that so far, more than 7,000 MW worth of service contracts had been approved.

“Pending applications (cover) around 3,771 megawatts together with the installed capacity of about 5,000 (MW)… It seems to be a clear path already to attaining that needed energy by 2030 even in the next perhaps three to four or five years,” Aquino said.

“We will be ready when that demand comes in... hopefully this will also be the factor – that there is an increase in store generation capacity – that will bring down the prices of electricity,” he said.

Almendras said emergency powers for the President should also mean allowing state-run agencies to engage in power supply contracts, an arrangement currently prohibited under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001.

“We will recommend that for a limited period of time,” he said. “I want to understand first what the special power they want to give him.”