 |
 |
| Reference Material |
| (The following article first appeared in BusinessWorld and was emailed to us by the author) Shadow Power Plays at the Department of Energy By Dean de la Paz Presidential EO 474 is the kind of power play that happens when one places a puny pebble upon a pedestal. Someone is bound to flick it off the way they do nasal buggers. Worse, when the record attests to embarrassing privatization failures, impotence against oil price increases, flawed demand projections and a US$ 562 million fiasco teeter-tottering on a rebid of Masinloc, someone may indeed be compelled to stage a bureaucratic splice. Last Nov. 30, 2005, while we commemorated Bonifacio Day, in a fashion familiar to Gloria Arroyo�s brand of governance, Presidential Executive Order 474 was released. EO 474 called for the creation of a super governing body called the Philippine Strategic Oil, Gas, Energy Resources and Power Infrastructure Office (PSOGERPIO). The objectives of the PSOGERPIO are unclear as are the parameters that encompass it. As it stands, the creation of an extraneous super body seems to directly encroach as well as usurp areas of authority and responsibility which by statute belong to the Department of Energy. While admittedly the record of the Energy Department falls miserably below even our most forgiving expectations, thus verging on gross dereliction, the creation of what might be a redundant office is far from the remedy the public seeks. Between a victimized public afflicted with energy officials long on hubris and short on competence, there is certainly no love lost. Just last week a publicity stunt showing the highest energy officials spinning the energy crisis on its tail and huckstering for low wattage light bulbs seemed like a ludicrous, if not totally lame, excuse for energy governance. That the stunt was punctuated by an admonition that conservation was the most effective response to energy price increases added insult to injury. The public has been scrimping since the PPAs were imposed on their energy bills. But to ask them to conserve when conservation only minimally affects the PPA makes the stunt an even more cruel affliction verging on pachydermal insensitivity. It is insulting to the consumer�s intelligence. Not only were electricity consumers already curbing on usage but they were also forced to pay for electricity they did not use. This they know. And this they do not like. And no amount of spin will appease them. Inane gimmickry does little to endear incompetents to the public and perhaps the underlying clamor for better governance has made its way to EO 474. To analyze its imperative let us review the discomforting failures of the Energy Department � those that seem to have spawned a desperate move to relieve it of its charge - and against those, analyze the PSOGERPIO. On the matter of planning, last September 2005, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released a scathing indictment on the incompetence of the Energy Department in coordinating and pursuing electricity reforms within and among related agencies. Lack of planning was one of the ADB�s sorest points in its commentary. In addition, according to a paper written by a London School of Economics economist, one-dimensional planning wormed in from the NEDA to the DOE leading to aberrant demand projections, abusive supply contracts and consequently, predatory tariffs. On the matter of policy, despite obvious shortcomings in understanding economic impacts, the Energy Department sponsored moves to include among those inflicted with the E-VAT, oil and energy inputs. On the matter of implementation, sans Masinloc, the DOE has privatized only 0.20% of installed capacities since EPIRA was passed five years ago. A far cry from the projected 70% requisite prior to open access. Unfortunately, the wailing seems to be coming from continuously victimized consumers. Such incompetence has stalled the implementation of the spot market and open access. Likewise, the privatization program has been bungled with the payment for the Masinloc sale still in question as a rebid looms more than a year after the original auction. Traced to gross gullibility and imprudence, reactionary hubris compensated and has whitewashed over the imperfections. As the skull thickens to protect itself from the external shocks of criticism, the space for the oxygen-starved medulla oblongata constricts and aggravates intellectual lightheadedness. Thus, despite wake-up calls, lessons remain un-learned and our energy authorities still seem bent on curing the incurable. But is the Palace�s PSOGERPIO the proper palliative for encephalitic emptiness? �Under the EO (474), PSOGERPIO, to be headed by a Presidential Assistant, could mandate the DOE and PNOC and all its subsidiary companies �to prepare, integrate, coordinate, supervise and control all plans, programs, projects and activities of the government related to exploration, development, production, utilization, distribution and conservation of energy�. The EO also has provisions allowing it to infringe on the functions of other key government agencies�. (Philippine Star, 12/19/05) All these belong to the DOE mandate. If Arroyo has ceased to trust her energy secretary then she should replace him. If he is incompetent then he should be fired. If he has lost her confidence, then he should leave. If he has been undermined then he should resign. Here is where the solution lies. In any case, Arroyo should stop this power play and instead inject into the DOE large doses of testosterone and transplant brain cells if she feels that is what is necessary. What is unnecessary is EO 474�s unkindest cut, the virtual bureaucratic circumcision of the DOE as it creates an extraneous shadow agency. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |