EXPRESSING strong support for the Philippine Energy Plan 2009-2030, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. said the government’s efforts to level the playing field in energy development are truly crucial to energy security.
“A level playing field would encourage the private sector to invest more in energy development to augment the limited resources of government to ensure countryside development,” the House leader said, adding that the current efforts towards transparency in governance are earning the confidence of investors.
The Speaker noted that at the start of the Aquino government, the energy sector came out with its major guideposts and focus: 1) Energy security; 2) optimal energy pricing, and 3) a sustainable energy plan.
To ensure energy security, the Department of Energy enumerated important programs that would have great impact in the next 20 years: a) acceleration of the exploration and utilization of oil, gas and coal resources; b) intensification of development and utilization of renewable and environment-friendly alternative energy resources/technologies; c) enhancement of energy efficiency and conservation; d) improvement of transmission and distribution systems; e) securing vital energy infrastructure and facilities; and, d) securing a competitive energy investment climate.
Belmonte cited the matter of transmission and distribution systems, along with infrastructure and facilities, including the energy investment climate as part of the strategic role of electric cooperatives in rural electrification.
“Even as government is not leaving any stone unturned to prevent any power crisis especially in Mindanao, we must always look beyond the immediate and into the future,” the Speaker said.
Along this line, Belmonte underscored the Congress-approved measure strengthening the National Electrification Administration, further amending Presidential Decree No. 269, as amended, or the “National Electrification Administration Decree” now under presidential review.
Belmonte, at the same time, gave due credit to the hard work of the authors and members of the energy panel that steered the bill through plenary.
Rep. Henedina Razon-Abad, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and principal author of the original HB 5578 with Deputy Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella and Rep. Kimi Cojuangco, stressed that the proposed statute “aims to strengthen the NEA to carry its mandate of total electrification of all puroks and barangays through the electric cooperatives.
Belmonte, likewise, acknowledged the authors of related bills (HB nos. 1018 and 1019) filed by Reps. Cresente Paez and Jose Ping-ay, which were consolidated into the final and enrolled copy submitted to the Office of the President.
The basic principles behind the amendatory statute include the following:
(a) Promote the sustainable development in the rural areas through rural electrification;
(b) Empower and strengthen the NEA to pursue the electrification program and bring electricity, through the electric cooperatives as its implementing arm, to the countryside even in missionary or economically unviable areas; and
(c) Empower and enable electric cooperatives to cope with the changes brought about by the restructuring of the Electric Power Industry pursuant to R.A. 9136, otherwise known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
Its authors said the measure would ensure that the NEA has adequate powers to protect the investments in the ECs and provide them with better options to ensure the continued delivery of adequate and reliable electric service.