MANILA, Philippines — A commitment from the leadership of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release P1.26 billion in funds has prevented a looming power crisis not just in Mindanao, but also in some parts of Luzon.
At a briefing of the Development Budget Coordination Council yesterday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman assured members of the House of Representatives that the agency would release funds to the National Power Corp. (Napocor) for the settlement of its obligations to fuel providers.
“We received the same information from Energy Secretary Rafael Lotilla. We are just waiting for the request if we can find funding for the fuel charges, I think it is roughly P1 billion until the end of the year,” Pangandaman told lawmakers.
“I already talked to Secretary Lotilla on the matter, and we are just waiting for the request from the department to initiate the processing of the release of the P1.2 billion for the fuel,” she added.
It was Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman who asked Pangandaman on the status of the request of state-owned Napocor for the funds that will be used to pay oil company Petron for fuel charges.
The former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor warned that there would be power outages in his district as well as other parts of the country, which will only get worse if Petron decides not to deliver fuel to at least 10 power plants.
This will happen if Napocor fails to secure payment of at least P1.26 billion of its over P2-billion obligation.
Hataman earlier met with Napocor officials on the power outages in Basilan after receiving a letter from the agency informing the lawmaker of its predicament with fuel providers.
If Napocor fails to settle its obligations with Petron within the next several days, the oil company will not deliver fuel to Basilan’s power plants, which is composed of one diesel power plant and two power barges, one in Isabela City and another in Lamitan.
Basilan’s power plant and power barges are under Napocor’s Small Power Utilities Group.
“There will be a total power outage in Basilan if that happens, if Napocor fails to settle its dues. That is why we decided to follow this up with the DBM and request the release of funds so that we can avert a power crisis not just in Basilan but also in other areas,” Hataman said.
In dealing with increasing fuel prices and addressing its payment deficiencies, Napocor told Hataman that it has requested the Departments of Energy and Finance for an augmentation of funds for this year.
Napocor also requested to avail itself of unprogrammed funds in the 2022 General Appropriations Act and the utilization of P1.3-billion national government subsidy from the DBM in prior years.