Blackmail, not blackout
| CROSSROADS |
 |
| Jonathan De la Cruz |
This is the universal cry of all Mindanaoans after the Palace and Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras tried to cavalierly downplay the worsening power situation in the country’s second biggest island by suggesting that the same is a result of years of neglect by previous administrations. Of course, Mindanaoans do not buy this argument. They point out that Mindanao never experienced such long, drawn out blackouts before especially during the Marcos years. They even noted that as far back as pre-Edsa I days, the Ministry of Energy then headed by the late Geronimo Velasco had already laid out an energy development plan not only for Mindanao but for the entire country which factored in the kind of problems, i.e., drought, community resistance, high priced oil and coal and the like, which Almendras and company are now trying to use to explain their negligence if not utter insensitivity to the plight of our brothers in Mindanao.
The Velasco power and energy road map, to use a Palace favorite short hand, was handed over to the Cory administration with all the attendant measures and even timeliness for the installation of generating and distribution capacities nationwide. Had the plan been implemented with adjustments for any critical developments, the power situation would not be as highly problematic as it is today. In fact, many experts now claim that had the nuclear power plant been commissioned we would not be in such dire straits as we are today..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120330com5.html
0 comments
Post a Comment