Pacquiao goes after bitter nemesis Cusi, bares ‘tongpats’ in DOE

Senator Manny Pacquiao on Thursday said that apart from failing to address the country’s power outages “due to negligence and politicking,” the Department of Energy (DoE) under Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi was also to blame for why the Philippines has one of the highest costs of electricity in Asia.

During the Senate hearing on the proposed P2.13 billion budget of the DOE, Pacquiao claimed that the country’s estimated 20 million Filipino households and the tens of thousands of businesses are unknowingly paying hidden charges on their electric bill because of Cusi’s anomalous scheme in the management and operation of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

“Kung mayroong Pharmally ang DOH, Starpay ang DSWD ay mayroon namang PEMC-IEMOP ang DOE,” said Pacquiao in his opening statement, referring to the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) and the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) which are involved in the operation and management of WESM.

“Iisa po ang modus ngayon. Magtatayo ng bagong kumpanya na katiting ang capital, walang experience or kakayahan, at kukuha ng kontrata sa gobyerno na bilyon-bilyon ang kita. Hindi nagpatalo ang DOE,” he added.

Pacquaio said that because of Cusi, the country’s electricity consumers are paying at least 0.0086 centavos for every kilowatt-hour that they consume or at least P1.70 for every 200-kilowatt hour which is considered the baseline consumption for lifeline users.

This translates to at least P34 million to P40 million in hidden charges that are illegally collected from electricity consumers every month.

Cusi and Pacquiao are embroiled in a bitter power struggle over leadership of PDP-Laban, each claiming to be the legitimate president of the ruling party. President Rodrigo Duterte recognizes the Cusi faction, while the Pacquiao faction is supported by old-timers in the party led by Senator Koko Pimentel, son of PDP’s late founder and former Senate President Nene Pimentel.

In the hearing, Pacquiao revealed that despite clear violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Government Procurement Act, and the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA), Cusi allowed a three-month-old private corporation with a measly P7,000 contribution paid by its seven incorporators to take over the operation of the electricity spot market and fulfill the requirement of the EPIRA as an independent market operator.

“Batid po natin ang patuloy na problema ng bansa pagdating sa ating suplay ng kuryente. Habang busy sa pamumulitika itong ating Kalihim ng DOE na si Alfonso Cusi ay lalong dumadalas ang mga brownout sa iba’t-ibang sulok ng bansa,” he said.

“Hindi na rin mapigilan ang tuloy-tuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng ating kuryente. Ang mas masakit, Mr. Chairman, ay ginawa pang raket ng mga mag-kakamag-anak, mag-kakaibigan at mga mag-kakampi ang pagpapatakbo sa ating electricity spot market,” Pacquiao said before presenting a video detailing the irregularities in the electricity spot market.

Despite the provision in the EPIRA that there should only be one independent market operator, Cusi retained the previous market operator, Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), purportedly to manage the operation of the IEMOP and serve as the collecting agent for the market transaction fees (MTF) which is divided between PEMC and IEMOP.

Pacquiao said that the MTF should be charged from the generating companies and not passed on to consumers.

“Maliwanag na napagsasamantalahan ang taumbayan. Ito ay dahil sa binabayarang market transaction fee na dapat sana ay sagot ng ating mga generating companies,” he said.

“Nakita natin na sa halip na magkaroon ng competition sa spot market na siyang layunin ng EPIRA Law ay nagkakaroon ng SABWATAN upang lalong tayong pahirapan,” Pacquiao said.

“Nakita natin kung paano sinindikato ng mga nasa kapangyarihan ang EPIRA Law upang lalo pang magkamal ng kapangyarihan at salapi,” Pacquiao said.

“Yung trabahong para sa isa ay ginawang dalawa kaya doble-doble ang bayarin ng ating mga consumers. Yung kanilang seven thousand pesos, ginawang bilyon. Yung EPIRA, ginawa nila PERA sa kanilang mga bulsa. Daig pa nila ang nanalo sa lotto,” he added.

Pacquiao said his position was reinforced by the ruling issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) which declared that PEMC is a government-owned or controlled corporation (GOCC) and subject to strict laws and procedures.

Pacquiao said the ERC’s 26-page unanimous decision has provided the “smoking gun” which would prove that Cusi, PDP-Laban secretary general Melvin Matibag of Transco, and others, violated several laws on graft and corruption and plunder, among others.

Pacquiao said that the act of Cusi violated the Epira Law since the law requires that the independent market operator must be “financially and technically capable, with proven experience and expertise of not less than two years as a leading independent market operator of the similar or larger size electricity market.”

With the ERC ruling, Pacquiao said that this would mean that PEMC and IEMOP are illegally collecting billions of Market Transaction Fees (MTF) from electricity consumers since 2018.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)