Zubiri comes out with simplistic solution to power rate hike

A lot of proposals had been raised to prevent the implementation by the Energy Regulatory Commission-authorized National Power Corp. to raise power rate by P1.14 per kilowatt-hour.

These range from the proposal by Sen. Mar Roxas to ask the energy department, Napocor president Froilan Tampinco, PSALM president Jose Ibazeta and ERC chair Zenaida Cruz Ducut to explain their reasons for the rate increase in the Visayan grid.

Another was the suggestion by Social Action Center of Victorias City Eleanor Cabanilla to file an intervention, asking the court for a temporary restraining order. This was the same move announced by Bacolod City Administrator Ro­ger Balo and acting city legal officer Sonny Peteirre.

But Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri had a more simplistic proposal for the Central Negros Electric Cooperative and the NOCECO of Southern Negros.

“All they have to do now is apply for accreditation by the Cooperative Development Authority. That will grant them exemption from taxes, especially the Value Added Tax and other taxes,” said Zubiri who caught newsmen bemused by what they considered as a simple solution to the problem by Ceneco members.

Zubiri, principal author of the Amended Cooperative Law, pointed out that the law exempts electric cooperatives registered with the CDA from all forms of taxes, including even the franchise tax.

So with other cooperatives which handles agro-industrial products.

“That law is very specific. And it provides a penalty clause against those violating that tax exemptions they are entitled to,” stressed Zubiri.

But that did not stop the lawmaker from proposing a Senate hearing into the reasons for the ERC grant to Napocor rate increase at this time when the public is saddled by the impact of the global economic crisis.

This was exactly what Roxas stressed when he pointed out that the move would only add to the burden of the people who are now experiencing bad times because of the global economic crisis.

He further adverted to the fact that the prices of petroleum products have already gone down.

P5-million for CLMMRH and Kabankalan Hospital

Zubiri, meanwhile, not only brought with him the second trance of P16-million for the province of Negros Occidental, the second of the P32-million he had promised as an incentive for local government units to be able to fund infrastructure projects.

Negros Occidental is the native province of his father, Jose Ma. Zubiri, Bukidnon governor, who is from Kabankalan City.

Zubiri also turned over P5 million to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Hospital for his proposed dialysis center. The other P5 million was for the district hospital in Kabankalan City. This time also for another dialysis center.

Zubiri said the grant will be made available at a cheaper cost of dialysis treatment.

“This is a very expensive procedure that often the poor can hardly afford. Now, they are going to have the chance to avail of dialysis at a much affordable rate,” Zubiri said.

That’s something, which a lot of officials seem to have overlooked. Now Zubiri had managed to tag dialysis for what it is worth for the ordinary tao. And his grants are certainly going to bring down the cost of treatment, Kudos!