AGRI Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee (Rep. Lee's office)


AGRI Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee has a proposed a way for the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to save up to P16 million in electricity fees from the operations of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3. During a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation Wednesday, May 24, Lee asked about the monthly electricity expenses of the airport and found that NAIA Terminal 3 pays the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) a whopping P40 million a month. Meralco is the sole power distributor in the metropolis. MIAA, on the other hand, is the operator of NAIA, the country’s main gateway. According to Lee, the airport can directly hook up with power plants and skip the services of the power distributor altogether. The neophyte solon said this "direct connection" will enable NAIA to rack up huge savings since electricity is 40 percent cheaper when bought directly from power plants. “if were taking of 40 percent of P40 million its about P16 million every month. Ang laking tipid po nito Mr. Chair (These are huge savings Mr. Chair)," he told the committee chaired by Antipolo City 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop. "Pwede po natin itong magamit sa napakarami pong ibang social services that we need money for (This can be used to fund the many social services that we need money for)," Lee pointed out, added that government always tackles with the fact that it doesn't have unlimited funds. In this regard, Lee urged the government to provide the needed resources for transitioning from utility providers like Meralco to direct connections. "Pag ipagsama-sama natin ang lahat po ng airports sa Pilipinas napakalaking tipid po nito Mr. Chair (If we combine all the airports in the Philippines this way then we will have huge savings Mr. Chair), he said. “Ang natitipid po nating piso dito, piso po ito na mapupunta sa ating mga health care services na kailangang kailangan ng pera, sa atin pong mga walang bahay, sa atin pong mga magsasaka na food producer pero hindi makabili ng kanilang pagkain (The money we save here will go to our cash-strapped health centers, to the homeless, to our farmers who couldn't even buy food for themselves despite being the country’s food producers)," explained Lee. Wednesday's hearing was the continuation of the committee's inquiry on the May 1 power outage at NAIA Terminal 3, which led to the delay and cancelation of dozens of flights.