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There is now a nationwide raucous on high power rates with the Manila Electric Company or MERALCO at the epicenter of the government-generated quake. After a long period of apathy, indifference, inaction and seeming tolerance, a sudden awareness, borne out of a seared conscience, caught up with our officialdom, relative to the highly burdensome power rates.
Thanks to the current ember of public service consciousness of national leaders or to their political designs, whichever may be the case, the consuming public is thrilled and elated that, at last, their long-suffering and burden on exorbitant power rates is now the subject and object of serious and concerted government action.
But, the big BUT, is that the government action on high power rates is quite a bit too late. The powerlords have grown too big and have acquired the capacity and capability to fight, oppose and even thwart government, as in the case of MERALCO. The wealthy and economic giant Lopez family which controls MERALCO has, through the years, developed into a huge and powerful entity using largely its huge and monopolistic profits out of its operations. It has virtually become a “kingmaker”. In other words, it can make and unmake mayors, congressmen, senators and even presidents through its financial wherewithal.Today, no less than the Government Service Insurance System or GSIS, for short, the country’s biggest financial institution supported by millions of government employees, is spearheading the war to unmask the hypocrisy of the elitist power wielders of the giant power supply firm, unshackle its long-established grip on the power industry and bid to wrest control of the top power supplier from the hands of the Lopezes, through the guts and sheer candidness of its president and general manager, Mr. Winston Garcia. Truth to tell, the unconscionable profits raked by electric companies is being imposed all over the country, mostly by electric cooperatives, and has long been the scourge of power consumers. For decades, since urban and rural electrification was intensified and electric power reaching up to the far flung barangays, a lot of questions have been asked on the propriety, reasonability and acceptability of so many varied charges which electric firms charge against monthly electric bills. Electricity, which became a basic necessity in the march of communities toward progress, has now become a luxury, due to the almost prohibitive power rates. The question now that bothers the minds of power consumers is: “Will the fight to lower rates and do away with unnecessary and unreasonable add-on charges end-up in favor of or satisfactory to the power consumers?” Indeed, when will the government truly work for the benefit and well-being of the great masses which have been hoodwinked, fooled and cheated by power suppliers? The current raucous is a good sign, but is it not a bit too late? Let’s all hope for the best and pray for success and victory of efforts to lighten, if not lift, the burden of the long-exploited power consumers Last update : 22-05-2008 18:36
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