Transcript of Interview of Sen. Serge Osmena

Napoles Affidavit

Q: Kung mai-submit 'yung affidavit ni Napoles ngayon, anong gagawin niyo dun? Kelan kayo maghi-hearing?

Serge: Kapag binigay nila sakin 'yun, ibibigay ko sa inyo. Ngunit hindi ko pa alam kung ibinigay na sa Blue Ribbon committee o sa office ni Sen. TG Guingona. Let me found out...

Q: May communication po ba kayo with Sen. TG kung ano ang plano niya pag nakuha niyo na?

Serge: Wala. Depende iyan eh, mag-uusap muna sila ni Sec. Leila De Lima. May request naman si Sec. Leila na let her validate the information that will be furnished in the affidavit.

Q: Are you in favor of that, na huwag na muna ilabas sa media, sa public?

Serge: I have told you this several times. Normally, hindi pinapaalam ng mga investigating agencies sa publiko kung ano po ang naga-gather na nila hanggang tapos na ang imbestigasyon at naka-prepare na ang charge sheet. I can understand the problem of Sec. De Lima, na she cannot tell you every time na makakakuha siya ng piece of evidence. Parang wina-warning mo na rin nun ang mga accused, 'Oops, nandito na kami.' Hindi dapat ganun eh.

Q: Better na huwag nang ilabas?

Serge: Hindi ko sinabi iyon ha. Sinabi mo iyon ? But I understand her problem, her dilemma. On the other side, kapag binigay ninyo iyan sa Senado, the pressure will be on us to release it right away to the public because it is our members who are accused there. Ayaw namin na magsu-suspetsa ang taumbayan, 'aba, bine-vet nila iyan, sinasanitize nila, kaya tinatago muna nila...'

Q: What would you advice Sen. TG?

Serge: I don't like to anticipate. I don't like to answer hypothetical questions. I will wait until Sen. TG has talked to Secretary De Lima.

On Power/Petilla

Q: Nama-manage ba ng maayos ni Secretary Petilla ang DOE?

Serge: Hindi nga eh. Nagko-complain na nga eko eh. The last 4 years have been...parang neglect... deny-neglect, hoping that everything will turn out right. Pero hindi po ganyan ang power eh. You have to anticipate, you have to research, you have to observe what's going on in other countries, nagkakaroon sila ng problema din dun dahil hindi din nila na-a-anticipate ang mga problema. So I want to learn from their problems so that we can anticipate it here in advance. 'Yun pong nangyari na price spike, we could have managed that better. Hindi magkakaroon ng price spike na ganun kalaki, na ganun kahaba, almost 1 month.

Q: Possible po ba ang mga rotating brownouts?

Serge: Probable, hindi lang possible. Nangyari na nga iyan 2 weeks ago, very slight. Makikita mo naman iyan eh. You know how much megawatts, what's out installed capacity, what's our peak demand, what type of plants there are. Ang problema po natin, medyo tumatanda na din ang mga generating plants natin, so more prone sa break down, at hindi natin masasabi kung kailan sila magbe-break down. Parang 20 year old jeepney, alam mo na sometime during the year magbe-breakdown iyan, pero hindi mo lang alam what month.

Q: May nabanggit po kayo na malawakang brownouts sa 2015?

Serge: There will be brownouts, hindi naman blackout. When? Nobody can say. Only God can tell us. But nakikita ko na bumaba hanggang 260MW ang reserve natin. That is like hanging by the skin of your teeth.

Q: What's to blame? Who to blame?

Serge: There are many things that could have been done but were not done, or not done in sufficient effort.

Number one, alam naman natin nagkakaroon ng protesta ang mga coal proposed plants. Humahaba ng humahaba ang proseso. Ngayon po, 'yung 600MW that should have been onstream already, for Luzon lang ha, 'yun pong Redondo power plant dun po sa Subic, kinasuhan ng writ of kalikasan, so pending ngayon sa Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court happens to throw out the writ of kalikasan, kapag sinabi ng Supreme Court na pwedeng ituloy iyan, it would take 39-42 months to finish the coal plant. So, you are looking at 3 ½ years .

Alam mo kung ako ang Secretary of Energy, kinausap ko na ang lahat ng mga coal protesters. May base naman sila, may katwiran naman sila. Ngunit this is a matter of compromise kasi until we can find cheaper sources, cheaper baseload sources, we'll have to live with coal for a while. All the countries in the world have coal plants. America, China, India, etc. We don't like it. But meron na po ngayong clean coal technology that will remove about 90% of the carbons. Siguro we can live with that.

Number 2, 'yung management ng Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM)... ang mga members ng ERC po hindi taga electricity sector: walang ekonomista, walang computer expert, walang energy economists. Puro abogado ang nilalagay nila. Therefore hindi sila familiar sa energy sector. Kaya mahihirapan po talaga sila. I would not put a doctor there, but one of these days I might see a doctor there ?

Third, 'yung permit process, umaabot ng 2 years. Kung gusto po ninyo magpatayo ng planta, it will take about 2 years to get it fully approved. We should shorten that to 6 months, that's a matter of proper management. Bakit naman umaabot ng ganun?

Marami pang problema diyan. It just takes a good manager to put things together.

Q: Should Sec. Petilla be replaced?

Serge: I think the President should put a fulltime secretary. Medyo busy din si Sec Petilla dun sa Leyte, kanyang probinsiya iyan. Governor ang kapatid niya. Alam mong napakalaking problema ng Leyte ngayon because of Yolanda. Kung hindi siya makakapag-dedicate ng 100% sa energy sector, the President should use his prerogative to put good manager that could take care of it until the end of his term.

Q: Malawakang brownout?

Serge: Madali lang iyan. Kung Makikita mo kung anong available generating plants and total dependable capacity, 'yung growth ng peak demand dito sa Luzon grid, Makikita mo na manipis na manipis na 'yung reserve natin eh. Kaya ho kami nagkakaroon ng reserve because we take into consideration na magkakaroon din ng down time ang mga planta. So if you have 10 jeepneys, siguradong sigurado ako, 1-3 jeepneys will be out of commission at a certain amount of time during the year. Ngayon, if 1 or 2 of your jeepneys is 20 years old, sigurado ako it would be down for 1 month. So, that is easily computed by the statisticians connected with the Department of Energy.

Q: So, kaya magba-brownout kasi manipis na ang reserve natin?

Serge: Oo, at luma na ang mga planta natin.

Q: Anong year po iyan mangyayari sa tingin niyo?

Serge: The way we're going, we will have brownouts 2015, 2016, 2017.