IPPs and FVR’s emergency powers

This is in reaction to the column of former Senator Ernesto Maceda dated Jan. 14, 2014. In the column he mentioned that during the administration of President Fidel Ramos, the IPP contracts were negotiated under the emergency powers that were given to him by Congress.

We would like to provide the following information to set the records straight.

Forty-three Independent Power Producer (IPP) supply contracts were signed by the government and 22 of these were forged during the Ramos administration. Of these 22, 3 were signed under RA 7648, otherwise known as the Emergency Power Crisis Act (EPCA). The EPCA was granted to President Ramos in 1993 and this expired in April of 1994. Quarterly reports on this were submitted to Congress as required by the law. The rest of these IPP contracts were awarded under RA 6957 (BOT Law), and amended by RA 7718 (Expanded BOT Law).

All of these contracts were awarded in accordance with law and not a single one has been the subject of any case or lawsuit. It is noteworthy that since the Ramos administration, only one major electric power plant has been built and commissioned in Luzon, three in Visayas, and none in Mindanao.

On the other hand, electric power demand has consistently increased because of the growth of the population from 76 M (1993) to 98 M (2013), and the yearly expansion of the economy. The recent controversy brought about by the Malampaya shutdown is symptomatic of the problems we will soon be facing.

We must focus on the problems of today and provide for the future. —FRANCISCO L. VIRAY, former Secretary of Energy, and GUIDO ALFREDO A. DELGADO, former president, Napocor