Basilan lone district Rep. Mujiv Hataman





Citing the "huge economic losses" being suffered by his province, Basilan lone district Rep. Mujiv Hataman is seeking a House inquiry on what he described as the "frequent and incessant” power outages or brownouts there. Filed by Hataman was House Resolution (HR) No. 1157, which specifically aims to look into the Basilan Electric Cooperative (BASELCO), whose franchise to operate will be revisited by Congress when it expires in 2028. The House deputy minority leader believes that the province's power problems can be attributed in large part to the operations and management of BASELCO, the local power cooperative. “Hindi understatement ang sabihin na malaki ang nawawala sa Basilan dahil sa mga power outages na ito (It's not an understatement to say that these power outages have cost Basilan a lot). It has really caused huge economic losses in our province," said the former governor of the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Hataman said potential investors to the province get discouraged by the situation. He added the delivery of goods and services to Basileños, including public services and government programs have been affected by the frequent power outages. “Imagine the operations of hospitals, dialysis centers, birthing clinics and other health institutions in a situation where almost every two to three hours, there is a power failure." The resolution states that BASELCO’s franchise to operate will expire in 2028, thus “there is a need for Congress to decide whether or not to renew its franchise for another fifty (50) years … or to look at other options such as the creation of a separate electric cooperative for Isabela City or granting the franchise to a private Distribution Utility". The resolution also enumerated the problems surrounding the operations of BASELCO, including its debts to the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and the lack of a capacity to implement capital expenditures. “BASELCO owes NPC ₱3.2 billion in loans … In this regard, BASELCO is currently paying its debt to NPC at the ratio of 60 percent payment of interest and 40 percent payment of the principal amount,” the resolution read. “Capital expenditures have been minimal or non-existent for nearly 20 years due to high debt servicing rates and inadequate revenue earnings of BASELCO,” it added.