Wanted: Gov't-private sector dialogue

There is no doubt that those pesky two-hour brownouts are taking its toll on small and medium scale enterprises who have no generators that kick in to continue their business while the main power is out. While the appeal of the Department of Energy (DoE) is for us consumers to conserve energy, the bottom line really isn’t energy conservation; rather it is the reality that Cebu just doesn’t have enough power supply to take care of our demand.

We’ve said this before that the basic flaw stems from the fact that in the last last ten years, there have been only two power plants that were constructed. First is the Kepco Power plant, which until now hasn’t been finished yet, while the other is the Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC), a consortium by Aboitiz Equities Ventures (AEV). Vivant Energy Corp. (Vivant) MetroBank Group and the Formosa Heavy Industries that constructed three 82-Megawatt Clean Coal Fired power plant in Sangi, Toledo City.

Of course, the reality of this very hot summer comes into play, because in Luzon, many hydro-electric power plants failed to deliver power due to lack of water. The stark reality is, until and unless Kepco Power comes onstream and the CEDC finally gets its other power packs to operate, we shall have to endure these two-hour pesky brownouts.

But this is the Philippines where problems never get solved, even if we have already analyzed ourselves to death! But anyway, my ten centavos worth is simply for the DoE to come up with their projections as to what would be the power demands of Cebu in the next five years. If they can get this information, then we would be able to know whether we need new power plants or not. My bet is, we need more power plants but I’m only second guessing. The DoE ought to give us those demand figures if they have been doing the jobs that we taxpayers pay them to do.

Meanwhile, I suggest that we should have a private sector-led dialogue with Cebu’s political leaders so we can all plan out Cebu’s growth and development in one direction. This is something that we used to do 20 years ago when we held a Government-Private Sector dialogue dubbed “Cebu in the Year 2000” and later we enhanced it to “Cebu in the Year 2020: Make it happen now!” Well, it’s 10 years after that conference and we’ve got 10 more years to go before we reach the year 2020. Now is the right time to look into the score card of Cebu whether we’ve been right on target. If we missed them, how can we can get back on the right track?

Ten years ago, we were already warned that the furniture industry was a sunset industry. When Joel Mari Yu told me this, I was stunned because the furniture industry was a huge economic backbone industry that employed many Cebuanos. Ten years ago, we didn’t know what the Information Technology (IT) Industry was all about. today, you will see that the IT Industry has become Cebu’s major employer, while the furniture industry has become a mere memory of yesteryears.

With the new political leaders (including the old reelected ones) in place by the end of this month, this is something we should all be preparing for. I’m sure that Mila Espina still has some documents of previous government-private sector dialogue officiated by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). I say, let’s do it!

* * *

Still on the DoE, if there is anything that the Arroyo Administration never solved in the last two years, it is the gasoline price of Cebu that the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) vigorously pursued together with Gov. Gwen F. Garcia. In fairness, DoE Sec. Angie Reyes came to Cebu to try and solve this problem, but he ended up sounding like the lawyer of the Oil Industry. This is the observation of many in the private sector that the DoE has some kind of lovey-dovey relationship with the Oil Industry, whom they are supposed to guard carefully.

It is this same cordial relationship that US Pres. Barack Obama is trying to stop in the United States, especially along the Gulf States, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Florida where the greatest oil disaster happened. A solution seems to be nowhere in sight. We’re watching this disaster very carefully because we too could have such a problem here.

Meanwhile, the problem of Cebu’s high gasoline/diesel pump prices remains unresolved and while President-in-waiting Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III hasn’t yet been proclaimed. However, Cebu leaders like Mayor Tomas Osmeña can bring this issue to him and see if Aquino can solve this problem. If he can, then I will believe in him.