Meralco plot thickens

EDITORIAL

Click to enlarge

05/12/2008

The gloves are off, it seems, between the Lopezes and the Arroyos over the battle for control of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which is all there is to it in the supposed conflict to lower power rates.

The Lopezes, to refresh memory, was a major ally of Gloria in wresting the presidency from former President Joseph Estrada during the 2001 power grab.

A clash in political and economic interests of the Lopezes and Gloria led to a fallout with the previously friendly broadcast station owned by the Lopezes becoming increasingly tolerant of anti-Gloria coverages, of which the largely unpopular president has a phobia.

Lately, Gloria has been putting the entire blame on high electricity rates to Meralco, even if she and the state firm National Power Corp. (Napocor) are in reality a big part of the problem of high electricity bills.

The Napocor has been charging high electricity mainly because of deferred collections as a result of Gloria’s maneuvers to artificially lower rates whenever it is politically convenient.

The deferred rates pile up and so do the interests on it. What the consumers are paying for right now is mostly the cost of the inefficiencies of Meralco and the political whims of Gloria that are reflected in the Napocor rates, and of course the kickbacks on contracts with independent power producers (IPP) which were done on a rush of contracts signed by former President Fidel Ramos when the country was placed under a state of emergency due to the daily brownouts that plagued the country.

The other day a strange advertisement appeared in the bigger newspapers which made extensive use of the word tong-pats, which became popular after Senate witness Dante Madriaga used the word which he said was the code for the kickbacks that was being passed around like candies in the $329 million National Broadband Network (NBN) anomaly.

The ad was obviously in defense of Meralco with it having a table showing that the Napocor and the spot market Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (Wesm) charging the highest rates for electricity that Meralco buys.

What was stranger still was Malacañang’s reaction to the ad, with both Chief Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol and deputy spokesman Anthony Golez interpreting the ad as Meralco threatening to spill the beans about kickbacks in the Arroyo administration.

Apostol even described it as blackmail that presupposes that something hidden will likely be exposed by the Lopezes.

After years of a mutually beneficial relationship, the possibility of sinister deals and dark secrets between Gloria and the Lopezes cannot be discounted.

After all, it cannot be denied that a lot of benefits have been showered on both parties. Without the Lopez-TV supporting Gloria in 2000 to the impeachment trial of Estrada, to the ouster and conviction of the former president — and all throughout that time, the demonization of him was non-stop, Gloria couldn’t have stayed that long in Malacañang — nor would she even have made it to Malacañang — legitimately.

While the ad was obviously employing street language in an effort to reach the majority of electricity consumers in asserting that Napocor, and not Meralco, should be blamed for the high electricity rates, it may have brought out, intentionally or not, the greatest fears of Gloria and her cabal in their current feud with the Lopezes.

What these fears are would likely see the light as the conflict between Gloria and the Lopezes becomes more bloody.

Abangan.

Back to top

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph
The Daily Tribune © 2006