Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Canada, Saipan, New Zealand, United States jobs - Welders, Hotel Staff, Machinists, Painters
Canada Machine Operators (Juice Production) Order Selectors (Warehouseman) Aseptic Filler / Batch Operators (Juice Production) - presently working in the same field, 25-42 years old, married not more than 3 kids, hardworking, ... |
| Saipan, CNMI Accountant - 28 to 40, 5 years in experience general accounting, familiar in manual and computerize, knows driving a plus factor TOTAL MANPOWER RESOURCES INC Private Employment Agency RM 500 FERROS BLDG 176 SALCEDO ST ... |
| New Zealand Welder Panel Beater Cattle / Dairy Farmer Fiberglass Technician HVAC Design engineer Sheet Metal Fabricator Combustion Engineer Heavy Equipment / Hydraulic Mechanic Truck and Trailer Body Builder ... |
| United States Waiters and Waitresses Groundskeeper - Golf Course Line Cooks Housekeeper Banquet Servers - 25 to 45 years old, high school graduate, flunet in English, 2 years work experience, June 5 interview ... |
| New Zealand Welders Stainless Steel Fabricator Bus Body Builder Bus Electrician Fitter / Turner Heavy Equipment Mechanic Lathe Operator (Wood) Truck Mechanic for Kenworth and Isuzu Tractor Mechanic for Massey Ferguson and John Deered ... |
| Australia - Drake Personnel Ltd. Fabricator / Welder Machinists CNC Machinists Moulders / Pattermakers Manual Lathe and Milling Operators -minimum 3years experience, not over 50 years - bring detailed resume, 2x2 pictures, IELTS passers ... |
| United States Housekeepers / Galley Hand Cooks - must have seafarers documents NORTHWEST PLACEMENT INC CAROLINE BLDG 415 PLAZA NSTRA DE GUIA ERMITA MLA Tel No/s : 5258682 / 5254976 / 5234102. |
| United States Cooks Housekeepers Dishwashers Landscaping / Greenskeepers Security Guards Waiters / Banquet Support Front Desk Clerks -must have at least year experience, Interviews on June 23 and 24, 2008 NORTHWEST PLACEMENT INC ... |
| Canada Hotel Housekeeping -21-40 yrs old completed at least 72 units college, at least 1 year experience, good English Trailer Truck Driver -21-45 yrs old, completed 72 units college, 5-6 axle vehicles w/ capacity of 40-53 tons, ... |
| Firewall Administrator EMC/ NETAPP Storage Technical Specialist Granite and Marble Stone - Mason Auto-Painters Containet Van Fabricators Agri-Equipment Operators Scheduler - must have construction experience ... |
| Canada - Hotel Staff for Fairmont Chateau Whistler Kitchen / Stewarding - Demi Chef - Commis 1,2,3 - Floor Supervisors - Asst. Supervisors - Kitchen Stewards Food and Beverage - Deli Attendants - Bartenders ... |
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Canada and Carribean jobs - Bakers, Foodservers, Chef, Carpenters, Iron Worker, Dental Technician, Auto Technician
Canada jobs - Bakers, Foodservers, Housekeeping Attendants, Cooks, Nurses, Caregivers
Canada - RN Nurses, Wendy's Fastfood Supervisor, Iron Worker
Carribean jobs - Chef, Dental Lab Technician
Canada jobs - Cooks, Carpet Installers, Finishing Carpenters
Canada jobs - Carpenters, Mechanics, Painters, Riggers, Factory Workers, Bricklayers, Auto Technician
Canada - RN Nurses, Wendy's Fastfood Supervisor, Iron Worker
Carribean jobs - Chef, Dental Lab Technician
Canada jobs - Cooks, Carpet Installers, Finishing Carpenters
Canada jobs - Carpenters, Mechanics, Painters, Riggers, Factory Workers, Bricklayers, Auto Technician
Monday, May 26, 2008
Teachers' wages deteriorate as tuition fees soar
While Filipino families are still coping from escalating prices of basic commodities like rice, bread and meat products and the never-ending rise of oil prices, they are once again faced by enrollment woes this month: tuition fee hikes.
The Department of Education has already announced that the tuition fee increase in private elementary and high schools this school year may range from 2% to 10%. Such can only be expected from a deregulated and commercialized education system, with the government allowing schools to increase their fees at will, the Educators' Forum for Development (EFD) said.
But while tuition fees in years past went up by as much as 20%, teachers' compensation has been declining by as much based on the government's own survey.
According to the latest Occupational Wages Survey of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, the average monthly wage rates of teaching professionals in private elementary and high schools range from P12,039 to P13,906 as of 2006. What is shocking is that these wages shrank by as much as 20% compared to what teachers received in 2004. (See Table)
Average Monthly Wage Rates of Full-Time Teachers in Private Education Services, June 2004 and August 2006 (in peso)
2004 2006 % Change
General Secondary Education Teachers 14,991 12,039 (19.7)
Science and Mathematics Teachers 14,626 13,034 (10.9)
Vocational Education Teachers 13,219 13,324 0.8
General Elementary Education Teachers 14,486 13,800 (4.7)
Science and Math Elem. Educ Teachers 15,434 13,906 (9.9)
Pre-Elementary Education Teachers 12,842 12,389 (3.5)
Source: Occupational Wages Survey, Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics
According to online job services company Jobstreet.com, the lowest salary a fresh grad teacher actually receives from private schools is a measly P7,000. Even teachers with one to four years experience are paid as low as P8,500 a month. Based on this, the lowest paid public school teacher with a basic pay of P10,933 appears to be better off.
The DepEd justifies the approval of petitions for tuition fee hikes with its so-called 70-20-10 requirements – 70% of the increase should go to the upgrading of school equipment, 20% for the acquisition of textbooks, and 10% for teachers' salary upgrade. Yet even this paltry 10% for the faculty does not reach their hands. It is clear that teachers continue to be underpaid and their supposed share in the yearly tuition increases is only a figment of government officials' imagination.
The EFD, an association of teachers and educators committed to social transformation, deplores the government's abandonment of its responsibility to ensure the people's access to education.
The EFD also takes issue with the government and private school owners' use of teachers' pay hike as an excuse to raise tuition fees. Teachers indeed deserve higher compensation for decent living, but school owners should provide this without charging the students exorbitant tuition and other fees. (end)
The Educators' Forum for Development (EFD) is an association of educators committed to social transformation. It was established in 2002 by the IBON Partnership in Education for Development and other progressive educators, including founding chairperson Bienvenido Lumbrera.
The Department of Education has already announced that the tuition fee increase in private elementary and high schools this school year may range from 2% to 10%. Such can only be expected from a deregulated and commercialized education system, with the government allowing schools to increase their fees at will, the Educators' Forum for Development (EFD) said.
But while tuition fees in years past went up by as much as 20%, teachers' compensation has been declining by as much based on the government's own survey.
According to the latest Occupational Wages Survey of the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, the average monthly wage rates of teaching professionals in private elementary and high schools range from P12,039 to P13,906 as of 2006. What is shocking is that these wages shrank by as much as 20% compared to what teachers received in 2004. (See Table)
Average Monthly Wage Rates of Full-Time Teachers in Private Education Services, June 2004 and August 2006 (in peso)
2004 2006 % Change
General Secondary Education Teachers 14,991 12,039 (19.7)
Science and Mathematics Teachers 14,626 13,034 (10.9)
Vocational Education Teachers 13,219 13,324 0.8
General Elementary Education Teachers 14,486 13,800 (4.7)
Science and Math Elem. Educ Teachers 15,434 13,906 (9.9)
Pre-Elementary Education Teachers 12,842 12,389 (3.5)
Source: Occupational Wages Survey, Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics
According to online job services company Jobstreet.com, the lowest salary a fresh grad teacher actually receives from private schools is a measly P7,000. Even teachers with one to four years experience are paid as low as P8,500 a month. Based on this, the lowest paid public school teacher with a basic pay of P10,933 appears to be better off.
The DepEd justifies the approval of petitions for tuition fee hikes with its so-called 70-20-10 requirements – 70% of the increase should go to the upgrading of school equipment, 20% for the acquisition of textbooks, and 10% for teachers' salary upgrade. Yet even this paltry 10% for the faculty does not reach their hands. It is clear that teachers continue to be underpaid and their supposed share in the yearly tuition increases is only a figment of government officials' imagination.
The EFD, an association of teachers and educators committed to social transformation, deplores the government's abandonment of its responsibility to ensure the people's access to education.
The EFD also takes issue with the government and private school owners' use of teachers' pay hike as an excuse to raise tuition fees. Teachers indeed deserve higher compensation for decent living, but school owners should provide this without charging the students exorbitant tuition and other fees. (end)
The Educators' Forum for Development (EFD) is an association of educators committed to social transformation. It was established in 2002 by the IBON Partnership in Education for Development and other progressive educators, including founding chairperson Bienvenido Lumbrera.
Fr. Fernando Suarez in Manila
Yes that's right. Fr. Suarez is here since Saturday.
According to Sr. Gemma Ria Dela Cruz, Suarez, 40, will be arriving . She said the healing priest is set to hold a healing mass for the listeners of "Kapanalig" program under Veritas 846–Radyo Totoo in July as reported by SunStar.
Nate Barreto of Manila Bulletin reports:
Fr. Suarez is welcomed by his mother at Ninoy Aquino airport briefly stopped by those who recognized him by touching his hands. "Gusto ko lang i-consolidate yung aking project (Montemaria Shrine). Ang itinerary ko ay mostly meeting with the boards, architects, priests and bishop of Lipa" said Suarez referring to his mission to build a shrine devoted to Mary Mother of the Poor. He reminded the Cosme typhoon victims "not to lose hope and to pray and urged those who have more in life to help."
He hinted that by September he may settle at the site of the Montemaria Shrine in Batangas City which will be in time an international pilgrimage site that will bring the world's faithful closer to God and find healing not only in physical afflictions but in spiritual weakness.
Schedule of healing mass for the rest of May month and June 2008.
Friday, May 30 - Sunday, June 1: Montemaria (Vigil)
Friday, May 30, 2008
3:00 PM Holy Mass - MonteMaria
5:00 PM Procession
7:30 PM Healing Services & Vigil
3:00 PM Holy Mass - MonteMaria
5:00 PM Procession
7:30 PM Healing Services & Vigil
Saturday, May 31, 2008: Vigil
9:00 AM Holy Mass & Healing Services
4:00 PM Holy Mass & Healing Services
10:00 PM Vigil
9:00 AM Holy Mass & Healing Services
4:00 PM Holy Mass & Healing Services
10:00 PM Vigil
Sunday, June 1, 2008: Vigil
6:00 AM Holy Mass
6:00 AM Holy Mass
Contact: Aileen Galang
842-3772 and 842-3794
842-3772 and 842-3794
Thursday, June 5, 2008
9:00 AM Holy Mass & Healing Services -
Lake Shore Tent - Km. 71 - NLEX (Mexico Exit) Mexico,Pampanga
9:00 AM Holy Mass & Healing Services -
Lake Shore Tent - Km. 71 - NLEX (Mexico Exit) Mexico,Pampanga
Contact:
Lynne-63919 728 9382;
Abby - 63917 859 9367
Lynne-63919 728 9382;
Abby - 63917 859 9367
Monday, June 9, 2008
9:00 AM Holy Mass & Healing Services - San Jose De Navotas Parish
M. Naval St., San Jose, Navotas City , Metro Manila
9:00 AM Holy Mass & Healing Services - San Jose De Navotas Parish
M. Naval St., San Jose, Navotas City , Metro Manila
Contact Person:
Kai Llobrera
Tel: (632) 361-9924
Cell: 63928-942-6856
Kai Llobrera
Tel: (632) 361-9924
Cell: 63928-942-6856
June 7-12, Spain
Schedule, venue and contact info to follow
June 12-17, Germany
Friday, June 13, 2008 to Sunday, June 15, 2008
St. Augustin Mission Seminary
Arnold-Janssen- Strasse 30, 53757 Sankt Augustin,
Bonn, GERMANY|
Friday, June 13, 2008 to Sunday, June 15, 2008
St. Augustin Mission Seminary
Arnold-Janssen- Strasse 30, 53757 Sankt Augustin,
Bonn, GERMANY|
Contact: Fr. Adonis Narcelles Jr. SVD.
Schedule to follow
Schedule to follow
June 17-20, Switzerland
Schedule, venue and contact info to follow
June 30-Jul7, Vienna
Schedule, venue and contact info to follow
Schedule, venue and contact info to follow
The days without schedules have been booked for private engagements and meetings therefore unlisted.
Some schedules may change without prior notice. You can check his website
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
'The Spirit' Teaser Trailer
Adapted from the Will Eisner's graphic novels, 'The Spirit' tells the story of a man who fakes his own death and fights crime from the shadows of Central City. Stars Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Jaime King and Scarlett Johansson.
Rep. Crispin Beltran 75
"If helping the poor is a crime, and fighting for freedom is rebellion, then I plead guilty as charged." - Ka Bel
Congress Profile
Beltran, Crispin B.
Sectoral Representative
PL - ANAKPAWIS
Term: 3
Age: 75
Date of Birth: 07 January 1933
Place of Birth: Bacacay, Albay
Religion: Catholic
Civil Status: M
Spouse: Rosario Soto Beltran
Other Profession: Labor Leader
Rm. S-602, House of Representatives, Quezon City
Phone: 931-5001 local 7300, 9316615
News reports Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran has been diagnosed as "brain dead" at the Far Eastern University hospital in Quezon City after falling from
the roof of his home in Barangay Muzon Tuesday morning.Family decided to transfer him to another hospital but sufferred cardiac arrest along the way.
Congress Profile
Beltran, Crispin B.
Sectoral Representative
PL - ANAKPAWIS
Term: 3
Age: 75
Date of Birth: 07 January 1933
Place of Birth: Bacacay, Albay
Religion: Catholic
Civil Status: M
Spouse: Rosario Soto Beltran
Other Profession: Labor Leader
Rm. S-602, House of Representatives, Quezon City
Phone: 931-5001 local 7300, 9316615
Monday, May 19, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
On power play and consumer empowerment
What became clearer in Monday's hearing of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC) is not the immediate reduction in power rates but the electrifying power play between the Lopezes and the government for control of Meralco.
Designed purposely to address the high cost of power in the country, the JCPC hearing was supposed to look for ways to reduce the cost of power in the country, which is among the highest in the world.
Though many issues contributing to the high electricity rates such as the imposition of VAT, system loss charge and other pass-on rates were discussed, it was obviously the raging power play between the Lopezes and the Arroyo government for control of Meralco that occupied center stage.
Hearing GSIS President Winston Garcia himself accused of mismanaging the government employees' pension fund, talk about inefficiency in the management of Meralco is already mind boggling. And for a Meralco director like him, who represents 33 percent of the country's biggest utility to be denied access to corporate records, is even more baffling. These are corporate matters easily resolved, not in public debate, but within the company's walls or in the courts. There must be a bigger purpose behind Garcia's moves. And there must be something the Lopezes don't want the public—Garcia's bosses most especially—to know.
It is our position that Meralco must be made to answer for all the burdens it has been unjustly imposing onto its customers, including the deals it has made with Mrs. Arroyo at the expense of the unknowing public. This it must do, in the interest of justice—and justice has long been overdue.
But the company should not be made a convenient excuse by the Arroyo government to save its own skin and evade its culpability over this complex problem of high electricity rates. From the signing of the EPIRA into law, to the non-renegotiation of the contracts with IPPs, to the deals with the Lopezes at the expense of the public, to the higher rates and higher returns to Napocor and Transco, to the privatization deals and bids—these involve billions of pesos and it is quite impossible to imagine the Arroyo administration not dipping its fingers into these magnificent pies.
The Freedom from Debt Coalition would like to issue a stern warning to Mrs. Arroyo, her family and allies in Malacañang: Stop the power grab. Do not use a legitimate and burning popular issue of high electricity rates to serve your own selfish interests. With feeling, we say in one emphatic voice: Back off!
Rather than allow itself to be used as a pawn in this power play, the PowerCom can seriously consider another option: consumer ownership. We at the Freedom from Debt Coalition have been pushing for this since 2005, when the issue of the P30-B Meralco refund first surfaced.
It is high time we departed from the old school that treated consumers simply as captive markets rather than as rightful owners of a public utility. These public utilities were built by peoples' money. It is time to give the power back to where it rightfully belongs. Privatization, however, has made this option next to impossible. But we'll keep pursuing this option, not only because it is more democratic. In the final analysis making a utility accountable to its owners who are also its consumers will render electricity prices more reasonable and fair. And render power grabs and power deals by power-hungry elites a thing of the past.
Likewise, members of the JCPC should consider the immediate overhauling of EPIRA if they want to convert their words into action. This policy framework failed, and will not usher in a brighter energy future for the country. Lawmakers should stop pointing their fingers at others as if they themselves had no hand in creating the monster of failed privatization policy and flawed electricity reforms under EPIRA.
Why is Meralco involved in 'sweetheart deals' with other Lopez-owned IPPs? Because EPIRA allows cross-ownership. Why is Meralco buying more than 50 percent of its total supply from its own IPPs? Because EPIRA allows it to do so. Why are Meralco rates higher that other distribution utilities? Because EPIRA and the ERC allowed the use of different rate methodologies. Why is it that whoever controls Meralco controls the power sector? Because EPIRA renders it so.
How about the IPP contracts that made us pay P7.71/kWh from Casecnan rather than at NPC's P3.89 generation charge? Again, EPIRA requires us to pay for them until the end of the contract. Imagine half of the price cut if this contract were rescinded.
When asked yesterday if NPC can supply the needed requirement of Meralco to avail of its cheaper price, the answer is predictably no. Why? Because with almost 50 percent of its generating capacity already privatized and the remaining to be finished this year, how can a dying NPC enter into a long-term supply contract with Meralco.
Now if lawmakers only see the devil in the Lopezes and ignore the bigger power play being hatched and the failed policies behind these high electricity rates, they had better switch off the lights in both houses of Congress. Or pay our electric bills. Or failing that, shoot their own feet.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
10 Reasons Why Electricity Bills Are High
| By the Freedom from Debt Coalition A position paper submitted to the: Joint Congressional Power Committee (JCPC) After MERALCO, the country's largest electricity distributor and supplier, announced last April an increase in its generation charges by 51.88 centavos per kilowatt hour (kWh), rumors of a brewing government takeover began spreading like wildfire. Signals are there, experts say, as shares of both the government and the Lopezes each jumped to more than 30%, with the Lopezes having a slight fractional advantage. The recent government actions to pin down MERALCO and target the Lopezes, however, only serve to narrow the discourse to a simplistic formula: Electricity rates are high; for which MERALCO and the Lopezes are to blame. Meralco is no doubt an easy and guilty target. But there are more reasons for electricity rates in the Philippines being among the highest in Asia. And the Arroyo government is equally to blame, if not more. The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) believes that the issue of high electricity prices is a result of a confluence of factors, from bad governance to corruption to mismanagement to rent-seeking to framework concerns. It is also more complex than what media portrays or what some politicians would want us to believe. We attempt to identify these factors as our contribution to gaining a fuller understanding of the problem of unabated expensive electricity. FDC argues that the skyrocketing price of electricity emanates from structural, management, policy, governance and paradigmatic causes. FDC believes that these problems cannot be resolved fully without transforming the electricity industry into one that is more responsive and accountable to the people, and more environmentally sustainable. Meanwhile, it would greatly help the consumer for the government to target specific rate-hiking factors and introduce immediate reforms, with the end-in-view of course, of more comprehensive changes sooner rather than later. We believe electricity is expensive because of the following: 1. The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) allows MERALCO, other distribution utilities (DUs) and the National Transmission Commission (Transco) to earn over and above what used to be the statutory return on rate base of 8-12%. The Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) allowed ERC to change the system of tariff setting, and it did. But the systems it now follows allows both transmission and distribution companies to earn far more than what they were allowed to earn in the past. And as far as generation and supply companies are concerned, the ERC has little if any say in the prices they charge because generation and supply are deregulated under EPIRA. 2. The Arroyo government wants to attract private investors to purchase NPC's assets, and for the assets to become attractive, electricity rates have to be high. The higher the winning bidder bids, the higher the electricity price we have to pay in the future so the winning bidder can recover its investment. This can be observed with the nature of recent electricity rate hikes. Following the suggestion of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the National Power Corporation (NPC) petitioned rate hikes in order to attract investors since no investor would invest without proof of financial viability. Out of the PhP1.98/kWh NPC petitioned in 2004, PhP1.03/kWh was approved by ERC in 2005 – the highest rate hike in the history of the ERC. Transmission charges also increased from PhP0.7716/kWh in May 2006 to PhP0.9163/kWh in July 2006 (which is contrasted with almost flat prices from November 2005 up to May 2006) as the privatization and the bidding process is about to start. 3. The Arroyo government did not renegotiate the contracts with NPC's independent power producers or IPPs. These contracts require NPC to purchase electricity whether or not these are actually generated or dispatched, and to supply fuel to IPPs that are in operation. The price NPC agreed to pay for this electricity was overstated to begin with, and many of these contracts have clauses that allow the IPP to raise rates over time. NPC also bears the risk of peso devaluation and the risk of the cost of fuel, such as oil and coal, going up. We have been paying for these contracts in our electric bills for over a decade, and we continue to pay for these today, although this is less transparent, thanks to unbundling. With world oil and coal prices hitting all time highs, with the peso now at PhP40 to the dollar compared with PhP26:$1 when these contracts were signed, the cost of these contracts are an excessive burden on ordinary Filipino electricity consumers. Even consumers that do not have electricity at home are also made to pay for these contracts because the government guarantees all of NPC's obligations to the IPPs. 4. EPIRA allows MERALCO to purchase at most half of its electricity requirements from its sister companies or IPPs. Besides the problem of NPC with the IPPs, we have the problem of MERALCO's contracts directly with its own IPPs. EPIRA also allows cross ownership between generation and distribution. A closer look at the ownership of most of MERALCO's IPPs will show that they are owned by the Lopezes. Examples include the Santa Rita, the San Lorenzo Natural Gas, and the Quezon Coal-fired Power Plants. Whatever guarantees the government gives to its IPPs, MERALCO also gives to its IPPs. MERALCO has always claimed that it doesn't earn from the high generation charges of its IPPs, and that it is merely passing on to its IPPs whatever it charges its customers for generation. MERALCO is telling the truth. But that is not the entire picture. For while MERALCO doesn't itself earn from the high generation charges of its IPPs, the Lopezes do. A simple review of the financial statements of the Lopez holding company and its generation companies will show this. This results to a clear case of double-whammy for the consumers. At one end, NPC must still pay for the unsold electricity it gets from IPPs because of the take-or-pay provision – an undue costs which will later be part of NPC's stranded cost to be passed on later to the consumers. At the other end, MERALCO pays its IPPs more than what it would have paid NPC, if it bought the electricity from NPC during the same hours that MERALCO was buying from its IPPs. As NPC rates vary from hour to hour, becoming more expensive when demand for electricity peaks, we must compare on an hourly basis what MERALCO pays its IPPs with what it would have paid NPC if it bought electricity from NPC instead of its IPPs. Fortunately during the May 6, 2008 dialogue at the ERC, members of FDC and EmPower Consumers were able to obtain a copy of Meralco's electricity suppliers and their respective cost and share for the months of March and April. Data shows that the cost of power from Meralco's IPPs is higher than that of NPC's.
NPC generated electricity is cheaper, also because there is a PhP0.30/kWh mandated reduction required by EPIRA for electricity generated by NPC or its IPPs. The electricity MERALCO buys from its IPPs are not subjected to this 30 centavo mandated reduction. 5. High electricity prices breed inefficiencies, which further raise the cost of electricity. The power sector is inherently inefficient. This is manifested in electricity consumption data obtained from the Department of Energy: Electricity consumption grew by 10.6% in 2003, then by a lower 3.2% in 2004, then by an even lower 2.5% in 2005. In 2006 electricity consumption grew by only 1.1%. Today it is residential and commercial users who hold a bigger share of total consumption. The thing is, residential and commercial consumers have peak hours when their demand for electricity is strong. Beyond that, demand is very low. This leaves the power sector with a huge inefficient setup: Base load demand is weak but you have to have extra capacity for use during the peak hours. This also means that you have to spend on additional capacity that will most likely get used only during peak hours. This is clearly wasteful and inefficient. 6. Other ERC decisions have rendered the cost of electricity high. One such decision is the ERC's dismissal of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) market abuse case alleged by the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). The ERC dismissed this for lack of sufficient evidence, despite the detailed market data submitted by PEMC clearly showing that PSALM exercised its market power to raise the WESM spot price. The dismissal by ERC will cost consumers an additional PhP14B. 7. EPIRA-mandated removal of subsidies. Following the logic of privatization and market-reforms, EPIRA states that instruments such as cross-subsidies which distort the "real" price of electricity should be removed. This is in keeping with the transformation of electricity industry from a public service industry to a commodity market. The prices should be subjected to market rules alone – and considerations such as equity and justice in the provision of electricity should be abolished. Households no longer enjoy subsidies from the industrial and commercial sectors, and households in Mindanao and Visayas are no longer being subsidized by households in Luzon. These households that no longer enjoy the subsidies of the pre-EPIRA days have experienced a hike in rates as a result of the removal of these subsidies. Even the lifeline rate today is not what it used to be. In the logic of subsidy, better off consumers subsidize the more disadvantaged ones. This may work in cities like Manila but in areas that are by and large poor, the lifeline rate is symbolic more than real and it is actually the less poor who are subsidizing the poorer. 8. Unfair and unjust practices of industry players that the ERC is ineffectual to regulate, or may even condone. ERC is known to have been powerless in providing more substantial solutions to recurrent abuse (overcharging and corporate malpractice) of DUs such as MERALCO. There had already been a number of times when MERALCO was proven to have engaged in such unscrupulous practice, yet MERALCO can and will probably engage in such practice because of the lack of fundamental action on the part of the ERC. For example: • In 2002, ERC discovered PhP0.50/kWh unjustified over-recoveries of MERALCO from the PPA. It reached PhP12.3 billion as based in December 2001 computations. MERALCO was asked to refund it to the consumers. • In 2003, the Commission on Audit discovered that MERALCO overcharged its customers by PhP0.017/kWh through inclusion of income tax as operation expense which it passed on to consumers from 1994 to 2002. The Supreme Court subsequently ordered MERALCO to stop this practice and to refund the consumers by as much as PhP30 billion. • Also in 2003, FDC questioned ERC's giving of provisional authority to MERALCO to raise their rates by as much as PhP0.12/kWh. Fortunately for the consumers, the Supreme Court junked the ERC decision in January 2004 because it violated certain rules during its own hearings. • In June 2004, MERALCO again applied for PhP0.1327/kWh increase through Generation Rate Adjustment Mechanism (GRAM). The Supreme Court again junked the petition in February 2006 as MERALCO did not follow the prescribed process (lack of hearing and publication) But MERALCO is not the only one engaged in abusing and deceiving the consumers. The Panay Electric Company (PECO), also known to be owned by the Lopez family, had also been asked by the ERC to refund the consumers PhP2/kWh it earned due to overcharging. 9. Value Added Tax (VAT). Because of the ballooning fiscal deficit of the government, which is in part caused by guaranteed obligations of Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) like NPC, the 12% VAT now includes oil and electricity which was exempted before (zero-rated) in the previous consumption tax regime because it was categorized as "socially-sensitive" – raising its prices will translate to rising prices of other commodities. According to some studies, VAT raises electricity prices by PhP0.60/kWh to PhP0.90/kWh. It is estimated that the government earned at least PhP7..668 billion from VAT in the electricity industry in 2005. One of the more controversial applications of VAT in electricity is the imposition of VAT to system loss, electricity which had been generated but not used. It is unjust to impose consumption tax on goods and services not actually consumed. 10. Corruption and Mismanagement • In NPC. Corruption in National Power Corporation (NPC) artificially inflates generation charges. This includes allegations of "overpricing" in the process of buying coal and oil supply for NPC-owned power plants and NPC-IPP's. • In PSALM. The privatization of NPC plants is anomaly-ridden, the most outstanding proof of which is the halted sale of the Masinloc Power Plant to the winning bidder – the YNN. Aside from the fact that YNN capacity is questionable (it failed to pay down payment despite three extensions), sale of Masinloc to YNN will only raise electricity prices form PhP2.80 to PhP4.80/kWh. What is more revolting is this case is that, according to a COA report, PSALM officials gave themselves PhP10-million bonus because of the "successful" closing of the failed transaction with YNN. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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