Precarious

The precariousness of our energy situation stares us in the face as the hot months become hotter still. Energy rationing has become a distinct possibility.

Several alerts have been issued by the NGCP the past few days because our aging power plants keep breaking down. Our energy reserves are very thin. Recall that in the six years of the Duterte presidency, not a single power plant was commissioned.

Renewable energy installations are sexy. But they do not provide the reliable base load capacity we need.

Coal is expected to be more costly. Last week, the EU took more decisive steps to curtail Russia’s LNG exports as part of the international sanctions imposed on the aggressor nation. Oil prices are likely to be volatile into the foreseeable future, given all the geopolitical uncertainties.

Our own natural gas reserves are thinning. Malampaya’s wells are due to run dry. A major chunk of Luzon’s energy needs comes from plants using natural gas.

Our LNG imports, like oil, are subject to the uncertainties of geopolitics.They are delivered through a complex web of shipping routes and vulnerable to energy cartels.

There is very high probability that we have more natural gas deposits in the country. But we need to explore and drill, draw the investments to make exploitation possible.

Over the long run, natural gas is our best bet to secure our energy future. At present, the known gas field at Malampaya supports 20 percent of Luzon’s power needs. With new wells, we could build up the share of natural gas in our energy mix and reduce dependence on other energy imports.

We need a clearer policy framework to encourage investments in natural gas exploration in the country. Senate Bill 2247, filed by Senator Raffy Tulfo, offers a good starting point to jump-start the exploration and development of new natural gas sources within our borders.

The bill will require the Department of Energy (DOE) to lay down rules giving priority to the use of natural gas found and developed within our borders. This makes sense. It will encourage investments in natural gas exploration and development. This, by itself, will create numerous jobs in our economy.

By prioritizing the use of indigenous natural gas, we might also reduce dependence on the volatile imported LNG market. Should the global geopolitical stresses worsen, a robust natural gas capacity will help secure our energy independence. It will put our economic expansion on surer footing.

We need to begin discussing our natural gas strategy now.

Chastised

The Supreme Court, last week, chastised the Commission on Elections for its utter disregard for legal processes in banning Smartmatic from participating in the bidding for the P18-billion election automation contract. As a consequence of this decision, the bidding went on with only a single bidder participating: Miru Systems of South Korea whose counting machines failed in many instances in recent elections elsewhere.

The Court, however, stopped short of invalidating the bidding process conducted. The capricious decision to ban Smartmatic without even the pretense of a legal process will haunt this contract. Without a competitive bidding process, we will not know if we got the best technology at the best price.

On the face of it, the award of such a huge contract in a process with only one bidder runs against the spirit of the procurement law – enacted precisely to protect public interest in all procurement contracts. The Comelec may be an independent constitutional body; but it is not exempt from the intent of this law. Thus the rebuke from the Supreme Court.

There was resistance to the poll body’s capriciousness from the start. The Comelec’s own law department insisted that the arbitrary exclusion of Smartmatic was imprudent due to lack of a legal basis. Commissioner Aimee Ferolino, in her dissenting opinion, argued the same. She noted that the former technology provider was excluded without being given prior notice nor the opportunity to contest allegations made against it.

The Supreme Court, in chastising the Comelec, puts due process at the core of this issue. The arbitrary exclusion of the former technology provider falls under the category of grave abuse of discretion.

This ruling by the High Court, while short of invalidating the bidding, provides a platform for the other issues raised by Comelec’s high-handedness.

For instance, without any technical basis, the poll body declared as unserviceable some 97,000 vote counting machines in its warehouses. Most of these machines are still years away from the end of their usable life. They carry live warranties from Smartmatic for parts and services.

Had the Comelec decided to reuse the machines, they would have saved the Filipino taxpayers billions of pesos. By junking not only Smartmatic but also tens of thousands of usable machines, the Comelec only stoked speculations of anomaly in the new deal. The new technology provider is tarred by failure in previous elections elsewhere.

When some people complained not only about Comelec’s capriciousness in dealing with its former technology partner and its imprudence in junking billions worth of usable counting machines, the poll body’s chairman imperiously dared anyone to sue him. That swagger might be lesser now in the light of the Supreme Court scoring his “grave abuse of discretion.”

The Supreme Court’s decision could provide the predicate for future charges if, in the next elections, Miru Systems is shown to have delivered a lemon.