Electrification figures may have been fudged

MANILA, Philippines—The energy chief has himself admitted that he was in the dark about the actual extent of the government’s electrification program.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras on Thursday initially claimed at a budget hearing conducted by the House committee on appropriations that almost 100 percent of all barangay nationwide had already been energized.

The apparently sweeping statement raised the eyebrows of some lawmakers, including former Eastern Samar Gov. and now Rep. Ben Evardone.

When asked by Evardone about the validity of his presentation during the hearing, Almendras admitted to the committee that he was hesitant about presenting the report because he, too, also doubted its accuracy.

Doubtful accuracy

Almendras then vowed to look into the matter.

Briefing the committee, officials of the Department of Energy (DOE) led by Almendras claimed that as of December 2009, electrification of the country had already reached 99.39 percent with 41,722 of the total 41,980 barangays already having access to electricity.

As of July 31, all the 11,442 barangays in the Visayas had already been energized, 99.83 percent in Luzon and 99.80 percent in Mindanao. This meant that only 54 barangays nationwide had not been energized.

The DOE also reported that all barangays in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Regions 1, 2, the National Capital Region, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 were 100-percent energized.

Other regions had 99 percent success in electrification it added: Region 3 (99.94 percent); Region 4-A (99.33 percent); Region 4-B (99.52 percent); Region 5 (99.97 percent); Region 8 (99.93 percent); Region 10 (99.75 percent); Muslim Mindanao Region (99.23 percent); and CARAGA (99.92 percent).

Totally incorrect

A startled Evardone exclaimed that the DOE report was “totally incorrect.”

“I know for a fact that in Eastern Samar alone only about 80 percent of the 597 barangays have electricity,” he said. He suggested that Almendras was a victim of a “bum steer.”

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

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

Evardone said that the misleading report could have been the main reason that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) disapproved the P2-billion request of the National Electrification Administration for rural electrification projects.

‘Far from reality’

Evardone and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez vowed to ask the DBM to reconsider its decision, saying rural electrification was a critical component of development.

“It is very clear that these statistics are far from reality,” Evardone said.

He also assailed the DOE plan to put up solar power panels in far-flung barangays, which could energize only four electric bulbs in the plaza, or town centers and barangay roads.

“Once DOE had installed the solar panels, they considered the barangay as already energized which should not be the case because a barangay can only be considered energized if its households have electricity,” he said. –Michael Lim Ubac, Philippine Daily Inquirer