The party-list group Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP) is strongly opposing the proposed sale of the six Agus-Pulangi hydro power plants in Mindanao to the private sector.
At a press conference last Tuesday in Davao City, TUCP Rep. Raymond Mendoza said the Agus-Pulangi hydro complex is the source of cheap electricity in Mindanao, making power rates in the island lower than in Luzon and the Visayas.
He thus called on Mindanaons to oppose the proposed sale of Agus-Pulangi hydro power plants.
Once the Agus-Pulangi sale is materialized, power rates in Mindanao will soar, he said.
The Agus-Pulangi hydropower plants are next in line to be sold after the 12 hydro power plants of the National Power Corporation (Napocor) now under the control of the government owned and controlled corporation Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM).
PSALM is tasked to undertake the privatization of the assets of the NPC and the National Transmission Corporation, now the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) as well as the privatization of the management of NPC’s IPP (Independent Power Producer) contracts.
Mendoza said the privatization of Napocor’s 12 hydropower plants resulted in private and power monopolies and cartels in the power industry sector and in increasing electricity rates “which further bleed the workers and consumers.”
Louie Corral of TUCP for his part said the proposed privatization of the Agus-Pulangi hydropower plants “will forever doom to higher prices not only on power in Mindanao.”
“It’s like giving our power to the private sector,” he said.
In a statement, TUCP expressed fears the wide publication about the power shortage in Mindanao and Luzon as well as the El Niño phenomenon will be used by the government as basis to fast-track the privatization of Agus-Pulangi plants.
TUCP cautioned government not to use El Niño to condition the mind of the people to accept the proposed privatization of Agus-Pulangi hydro power plants. –Judy Quiros
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