If you didn’t know Lakas-Kampi Presidential bet former Defense Sec. Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. resigned as Secretary of National Defense when he filed his certificate of candidacy, making him the only Presidentiable that has shown us he has “delicadeza”, a word that seems to be lost with our present crop of public servants! The others need to be removed through a Supreme Court (SC) decision, showing they just can’t let go of their power!
Now that the SC has decided that cabinet officials must quit their post, somehow they still refuse to budge and are still waiting until that decision becomes final and executory. Now why can’t these Cabinet members let go their posts? Win or lose, their jobs as Cabinet officials are numbered anyway… they’re only up to June 30 of this year. So it is better for them to do a Gibo who clearly sent a message that he would never use his cabinet position in order to gain advantage over his political rivals.
* * *
I was just watching National Geographic channel’s series dubbed “Seconds from Disaster” and it was about the famous Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the worst nuclear power accident in the world that happened on April 26, 1986. It was then under the Soviet Union, but today Chernobyl belongs to the Ukraine Republic. Chernobyl had four nuclear reactors that each had a generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts and produced power up to 10% of Ukraine’s power needs in those days.
I’m writing this piece because the recent blackouts happening all over the country remind us of the ill-fated Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) that could have provided stable power to our country. Despite all the negatives that the opposition then painted against the Marcos Dictatorship, the BNPP was something that was planned properly to address the growth of the country expected to be power hungry. Alas, politics intervened and the Bataan Nuclear plant became an issue by the opposition.
Accusations that the Westinghouse deal was overpriced and worst, the site of the plant was in an earthquake fault, pestered the Marcos dictatorship. So when the EDSA Revolt removed the Marcoses from power, now the Cory Regime had the BNPP on their hands. Cases were filed (but later dismissed due to lack of evidence), then a couple of months into office Chernobyl blew up. This was enough for Tita Cory not to have the nuclear plant operational. Hence Manila suffered a lot of blackouts because of this serious mistake!
I understand that South Korea has a similar nuclear plant or the twin of Bataan Nuclear plant called Kori-2 that is still running without incident 24 years later. As to the fears of certain people that the plant sat on an earthquake fault . . . no earthquake ever happened in Bataan in the last 24 years, but it devastated Baguio City! Let me point out that we’re not crying over spilled milk here, but we have to accept responsibility for our mistakes!
When I wrote about the BNPP a few months ago, my good friend Atty. Rene Saguisag emailed me to ask, “If we were wrong not to operate the nuclear plant, why didn’t the Ramos Administration operate it when they could have?” I really didn’t have the answer to that query at that time, but now I found the reason why FVR could no longer operate the BNPP… that’s because the more than 700 Filipino engineers and scientists trained to operate the BNPP had all but gone to other nuclear plants that hired these well-trained and excellent Filipino engineers and scientists!
Indeed, the BNPP is merely the infrastructure, but the key element in running a nuclear power plant is our human infrastructure that we cannot do without. Mind you, running a nuclear plant isn’t the same as running a coal-fired thermal plant because if an accident ever happens to a coal-fired plant, God forbid there would be no radioactive fallout, which could happen with a nuclear plant. Hence the human infrastructure is far more important than the nuclear plant itself. If at all we would acquire another nuclear plant, it must start with the training and education of the people who will run it.
* * *
Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was the principal awardee in Cebu City’s 73rd Charter Day celebrations last Wednesday where she was awarded the “Order of Rajah Humabon”, the highest award given to those who have done a lot for Cebu City. Indeed, Cebu had a lot of infrastructure projects under the administration of Pres. Arroyo. But if you ask me, the single most unforgettable achievement she did for Cebu was the removal of that offensive Anti-Carnapping (ANCAR) permit where we can now freely cross from island to island without being suspected of driving a stolen car! This became her backbone project called the Strong Republic Nautical Highway. Now that’s a lasting GMA legacy that no one can take away from her!
* * *
For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@ gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.