PolEco: Maynilad water rates to go down by P4.79 per cubic meter

Maynilad water rates to go down by P4.79 per cubic meter

PolEco: Maynilad reduces proposed water rate hike

Maynilad reduces proposed water rate hike

Is this good for the public, or bad?

PolEco: Workers' Challenge on Bonifacio Day, Nov 30, 2012

Members of Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) Cavite Chapter, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) Southern Tagalog, Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralitang Lungsod (KPML) Cavite Chapter, Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO) GMA Chapter, and Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Transportasyon (PMT), staged a rally in GMA, Cavite on Nov 30, 2012, dubbed as "Workers' Challenge," to make a call to the senators, congressmen, governors, mayors, and all other politicians of the present government, to attend to the Filipino workers' struggles, generalized as follows:

1. Low wages and Policy of Contractualization
2. Rising Prices of Oil and Electricity
3. Housing Security

First of the struggles' workers had been bearing is the  policy of low wages and contractualization in offices/companies/factories. The Minimum Wage Law limits the wages of workers to what the Dept of Labor and Employment (DOLE) deems appropriate. The value of minimum wage differs from region to region, which is always below what a family needs for its expenses. On the other hand, the policy of Contractualization limits workers to 5 months stay only in a company, afterwhich, he/she needs to find another job in order to have a source of income, but also for another 5 months. Contractualization is a mechanism used by the capitalists to keep their cost of production low. Contractual workers don't receive the benefits given to regular workers, as provided by law. They also don't have the right to organize themselves or join a union. So the capitalists really gain a lot from that policy.

The rising costs of oil (fuel) and electricity add insult to injury. The workers are burdened by the low wages they're receiving and the quality of work, with no security of tenure, they have, but instead of giving them relief, the workers are saddled with the high costs of oil and electricity. This came into place through the free market policy of capitalists countries, which necessitates the privatization and de-regulation of all businesses. When oil and electricity prices shoots up, prices of commodities will also shoot up. Its a domino effect, because cost of fuel and electricity are always added to the cost of production of all commodities.

Another effect of the free market policy is the privatization of housing, which means that public housing projects need to be sold to private entities/capitalists, so that proceeds of the sale will go to government funds for public service. The funds always go to somewhere else and someone's pockets, as evidenced by the different scandals hounding government officials. So instead of making the housing program a public service, it's turned into a business opportunity. As in all businesses, if you can't pay, you can't stay. 

All these struggles are intertwined, as well as the demands. The various peoples' organizations (PO's) demand for security of tenure and a Living Wage (wage that can raise a family decently, which is based on the cost of living). They're also demanding the scrapping of the de-regulation and privatization policies, as obligated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other global financial institutions.

This is the challenge to all politicians and government officials. Heed the call of the workers, which comprises the 99% of the population. The challenge is in time for the birth anniversary of the great Andres Bonifacio, Filipino hero and the first revolutionary. It's also in time for the coming elections on May 2013, where "trapos" will once again court for the votes of the masses, making all kinds of promises and all kinds of gimmicks, from the endorsements of popular artists, to the promise of heaven when elected. 

This is the WORKERS' CHALLENGE !

PolEco: SC Urged to Reverse Ruling on Angat Dam - An article from the Freedom from Debt Coalition website

SC urged to reverse ruling on Angat Dam
Wednesday, 07 November 2012 00:00

Various cause-oriented groups, led by the Freedom from Debt Coalition, urged the Supreme Court to reverse its 09 October 2012 ruling on the sale of 246-megawatt Angat hydroelectric power plant (HEPP) by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water).

In a 10-page Motion for Partial Reconsideration, FDC, together with the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS) Inc., Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party and Alliance of Progressive Labor said the sale of the facility violates the Philippine Constitution, particularly Article XII, Section 2.

Article XII, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that “the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.” Petitioners fear that, if traversed to its logical conclusion, the decision effectively allows wholly foreign-owned corporations to engage in the exploration, development and utilization of State-owned water and other natural resources notwithstanding the clear nationality restrictions prescribed in the Constitution. “Thus, no ‘charter change’ would be necessary to allow foreigners and foreign-owned corporations to explore, develop, utilize – and even exploit – the State’s natural resources, including water. All they have to do is follow the decision this Honorable Court in the case at bar,” the petition says.

The petitioners likewise say that the SC’s reliance on the amended build-operate-transfer (BOT) Law is misplaced. “While it is true that under the Amended BOT Law, wholly-owned foreign corporations are allowed to undertake construction, rehabilitation and development of hydropower plants, the glaring fact ignored by the decision that the instant case had nothing to do with the Amended BOT Law,” the petition says. The privatization of Angat HEPP was made pursuant to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and not under the Amended BOT Law, the groups stressed.

The petitioners also say that the High Court “erred in its finding that the process of power generation does not amount to utilization of natural resources.” Petitioners claim that “power generation cannot operate without water. Hence, in the power generation process, water – a natural resource specifically mentioned in Sec. 2, Art. 12 – is indispensable. The operation of the AHEPP cannot be separated from the Dam Complex from which it draws its source of power.” “Very clearly, to maximize the use of the water from Angat Dam, the complex – the Reservoir, Dam, and HEPP - must be operated as an indivisible whole,” the petition says.

The petitioners likewise argue that the SC should have declared null and void the bidding process and the issuance of notice of award (NOA) to K-Water by PSALM, in consideration of the petitioners’ right to information. According to the petitioners, the High Court, instead of invalidating the bidding process and the eventual issuance of NOA to K-Water merely directed PSALM to allow petitioners access to the requested documents and records pertaining to K-Water. In its October 9 decision penned by Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr, the Supreme Court, although allowing the sale, still partially granted the petitioners' request and ruled that the National Power Corporation should keep its controlling power over the dam’s hydropower generation, subject to the rules and regulations of the National Water Resources Board. All 14 magistrates concurred with Villarama, except for Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., who wrote a dissenting opinion. Velasco argued that the agreements “violate the Constitution,” stressing that “the use of natural resources in the operation of a power by foreign corporation is contrary to the words and spirit of the Constitution.”

“The O&M (Operation and Maintenance) is more straightforward, in that it expressly authorizes the operator, K-Water, to administer and manage non-power components, which it defines as ‘the Angat Dam, no-power equipment, facilities and installations, and appurtenance devices and structures which are particularly described in Annex 1’. While it is true, as PSALM argues, that Angat Dam itself is not being sold, the operation and management of the same is being handed to a wholly foreign corporation. This cannot be countenanced under the express limitations in Constitution and the Water Code.”

Respondents to the case are the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water), First Gen Northern Energy Corporation, San Miguel Corporation (SMC), SN Aboitiz Power-Pangasinan, Inc., Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corporation, and DMCI Power Corporation.

Under Republic Act 9136 or EPIRA, PSALM is mandated to privatize all the assets of the National Power Corporation, including the Angat HEPP. On April 28, K-Water, a utility wholly-owned and controlled by the Republic of South Korea, submitted the highest bid, amounting to $440.8 million, among six qualified bidders. Angat Dam is the single-most important water source of Metro Manila as it provides 97 percent of the water needs of at least 12 million residents of the country’s capital and irrigates some 31,000 hectares of farms across 20 towns and municipalities in Bulacan and Pampanga.

 

PolEco: North Cotabato residents gripe over daily brownouts, as governor slams fake power shortage

This is what I meant when I commented in InterAksyon website when they reported that there's a power shortage in Mindanao, that this shortage may not be true, and it's just that the government wants to implement in full the Epira Law. The governor of North Cotabato questioned the veracity of the report and claimed that the shortage is just artificial, and discussed the available power capacity Napocor plants can deliver to the whole grid. She said that the government wants to privatize the remaining plants of Napocor. Pls follow the link below and read the report in full.

North Cotabato residents gripe over daily brownouts, as governor slams fake power shortage