THE CHAIRMAN of the Senate Energy Committee said he intends to summon or even file charges against officials of inefficient power cooperatives that fail to deliver reliable and low-cost services to the countryside.
Citing high power costs and frequent rotational power interruptions, Senator Rafael T. Tulfo said in a statement on Wednesday: “I will make sure that I take immediate action on the problems faced by the people, especially the frequent brownouts in the provinces, including Palawan, Bataan, and Davao.”
He also said he plans to investigate officials and individuals involved in delivering unreliable power.
“If we need to summon, we will summon the capitalist politicians, who, more often than not, are partners or directors of electric cooperatives that cause frequent brownouts in the provinces,” he said, raising the possibility of filing charges against such persons.
“Regardless if they are my friends or not, I will charge them,” he said.
“Because that’s my promise to the Filipinos who voted for me that once I get elected as a Senator, I’ll make sure that all the problems they bring to me will be heard in the Senate,” he added.
He plans to set meetings to hear proposals from industry experts and stakeholders, seeking to question why several problems recur and how to solve them.
Priority bills before the energy committee in the 19th Congress include Senate Bill (SB) 358 or the proposed Recoverable System Loss Act, SB 151 or the proposed Waste to Energy Act and SB 156 or the proposed Energy Advocate Act. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan