Workers gear for protest vs power rate hike

MANILA, Philippines - Workers are threatening to mount a people’s protest to dramatize opposition to the impending power rate hike.

Elmer Labog, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chairman, said they are set to mount a “protestang bayan” by mid-March.

Labog said the people are being made to pay more so big capitalists in the power sector can increase their profits.

“The increase, which amounts to almost a P40 increase in the bill of a typical household consuming 200 kwh per month and will be itemized as universal charge, is not about households’ actual power consumption but about the profits of big capitalists in the power sector which the government guaranteed under its privatization policy,” he said.

Labog said the next round of power rate hikes would bring only more financial burden for workers nationwide.

“We are again seeing the essence of the government’s privatization policy,” he said.

“The profits of big capitalists are being increased at the expense of their captive market, the public. We have been made captive because they monopolize a public utility that’s essential to our daily lives,” he said.

Labog called on the public to hold protests in their communities and workplaces on the third week of March.

“It is only through our protests that we stand the chance of pushing back the non-stop increases in the prices of oil and in power and water rates,” he said.      

The government invokes the small and medium enterprises to counter calls for a wage hike, but does nothing to address high power rates, Labog said.