Press Release
October 21, 2014

TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW OF SEN. SERGE OSMEÑA

On proposed APECO Budget for 2015

Q: APECO is asking for a P250M budget. Ano pong masasabi niyo?

Serge: That's a total waste of money. That's being treated like a pork barrel. Hindi po pwede. There is no chance for a freeport to develop so far away. Maski ang malalapit na freeport mismo, nahihirapan eh. Nakita po natin na in the past 7 months na nagka-problema ang port of Manila, talagang umayaw ang mga shippers na pumunta sa Subic at maski sa Batangas. At malaki na po ang ginastos ng gobyerno sa port of Subic at sa port of Batangas. And yet, both are only about 10-20% utilized.

Alam niyo kapag walang critical mass, kapag walang ilo-load ang barko at mag-a-unload, hindi din pupunta dito. Umaayaw ang mga ships na pumunta dun. They will not use that as an alternate port to Manila because they have nothing to pick up.

Q: Zero budget for APECO?

Serge: Hindi naman po, just caretaker budget, same as this year, mga P40M. To me, that's a total waste of money also.

Q: Last year sinabi na po na iba-block (ang budget) pero hindi naman natuloy. Paano po matutuloy ngayon?

Serge: May kaso sa Korte Suprema questioning the constitutionality of the law. Atsaka 'yung mga politicians natin dun sa Malakanyang, medyo go slow sila sa implementation ng batas. Biro mo, 'yung APECO was passed into law without local consultation, even with the town of Casiguran, where the law mandates it must be approved by the town council or the municipal council. Without any consultation with all of the indigenous people, bigla nagkaroon na lang ng batas. All of those have been questioned before the Supreme Court and it is still pending.

On projected 2015 POWER SHORTAGE

Q: Kahapon sinabi ng DOE na wala na daw shortage in supply, 'yung reserves lang daw po ang manipis. Pero ngayon, sinasabi na naman nila na merong 2-4 hour brownouts next year...

Serge: Alam niyo, they're always changing their numbers. Kaya nga naguguluhan na 'yung tao. Pero the truth of the matter is, we are going to be really short on reserves. Kasi meron tayong reserba na 20%, pero at any one time, 10% ng mga planta mga sira, they're down, on maintenance, so kailangang-kailangan talaga 'yang reserba na 'yan para hindi tayo magkakaroon ng brownout.

Unfortunately because of the maintenance downtime of Malampaya, we will lose from March 16 to April 15, magkakaroon tayo ng loss of 1,000 megawatts, which is equivalent to almost 10% of our installed capacity. So, dun tayo makukulangan because with the normal down of about another 1,500MW, eh di 2,500MW, we will come up short. So, therefore, ang gagamitin po natin ay 'yung ILP, Interruptible Load Program, where we hope to get as much as 1,000MW out of the 3,000MW we get from the generating sets in the Luzon area. Tapos magkakaroon po tayo ng about 500MW from new plants being constructed. So, with 1,500MW, it looks like we would be okay.

Ngayon, hindi po natin masasabi, baka magkaroon ng down na isang malaking planta diyan, so there will be some brownouts. Pero ang pinaka-importante po, 2 weeks lang eh. Our highest, our peak demand will come between April 5 and April 15. Kaya po, matagal ko na pong sinasabi ito, over 10 years, kailangan magkaroon ng demand management campaign ang gobyerno. At ngayon lang inuumpisahan iyan.

Nakita ko ang isang proposal ng Makati Business Club. Tama po sila. Learn how to conserve electricity. Huwag natin waldasin ang ating supply ng electricity, you have to change your light bulbs, you have to use your air-conditioning units less. At, siguro kung magkakaroon tayo ng savings from the usage of electricity, hindi tayo magkakaroon ng brownouts.

Pero, there is a chance that they maybe brownouts depending on how lucky we are between April 5 and April 15, two weeks lang. Actually, 10 days lang.

Q: House moved deadline to December. Sa Senate po?

Serge: We never had any deadlines. Sila lang naman ang nagbigay ng deadline eh. It's up to the members of the Senate to decide on that. Pero kung ako ang tinanong nila, sasabihin ko po sa kanila, 'Actually, there's no need anymore for a resolution because there is no need for the government to import, or for the government to lease new generating plants and sets.' Actually, there's no actual need for a joint resolution any longer. But let me talk to my colleagues first. Sapagkat baka, if there is a resolution that we will pass, it is a resolution to authorize the President to use P1B of the Malampaya fund to subsidize ang mga participants in the ILP.

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