Lawmaker scores DOE chief for giving 'erroneous' report on Visayas energy situation

MANILA, Philippines - An administration lawmaker hit yesterday Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras for making “deceptive and erroneous” presentation to the House of Representatives where he claimed the entire Visayas region was 100 percent energized.

“Nakuryente si Secretary Jose Rene Almendras (Almendras got burned),” Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said after listening to the official’s presentation on the barangay electrification project in the country during hearing of the House committee on appropriations on the budget of the Department of Energy.

The energy chief told the panel that 100 percent of all barangays in the Visayas are already energized. The DOE said as of July 31, all the 11,442 bargayas in the Visayas have already been energized.

The DOE report said “as of December 2009, the country’s total electrification level has already reached 99.39 percent with 41,722 barangays already with access to electricity out of the 41,980 barangays.”

Evardone, a former governor of his province, assailed the DOE for making a “deceptive, erroneous and misleading” presentation on the energization program of the government.

He said “this report is totally incorrect because I know for a fact that in Eastern Samar alone only about 80 percent of the 597 barangays have electricity.”

“Whoever made this report should be fired for feeding DOE Secretary Almendras an erroneous, deceptive and misleading information,” Evardone said.

“Obviously Mr. Secretary this is either to deceive you and Congress or a ‘window-dressing’ scheme which is definitely far from the truth,” he said.

Lanao del Norte Rep. Fatima Aliah Dimaporo said the DOE should not be cavalier in its approach to the electification of rural areas especially in Minda­nao saying “electricity is an indicator of the development of a nation and affects the standard of living and quality of life of its people.”

“There is a clear casual relationship between economic growth and the use of electricity, such as the creation of employment opportunities and expansion of business activities. We need to ensure that these services are delivered at reasonable and affordable rates to the people, especially the poor,” Dimaporo said.

Asked by lawmakers about the validity of his presentation, Almendras admitted he was actually hesitant in presenting the report because he also doubted the report. He vowed to look into the matter.