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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Imee Marcos not convinced Maharlika funds should be invested in NGCP

Imee Marcos not convinced Maharlika funds should be invested in NGCP

Published Jan 9, 2024 08:58 am

Senator Imee Marcos on Tuesday, January 9 said she remains unconvinced over proposals that investing part of the Maharlika Fund in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) would be the best way to solve the country’s power transmission problems. 

 

Marcos pointed out energy regulatory measures are already available under Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.

 

"Why should the MIC (Maharlika Investment Corporation) spend money to improve the performance of the NGCP when it is regulated by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)? Why should we use public funds when regulatory measures are available?” Marcos pointed out. 

 

The senator further said there are questions on how NGCP has been spending its net income.

 

"The problem of NGCP is not lack of cash but lack of performance,” the President’s sister pointed out.

 

“The NGCP's comprehensive income totaled P307 billion in the past 14 years, of which P239 billion or more than 77 percent has been distributed to shareholders, even as the NGCP claimed P309 billion in transmission upgrades,” the senator noted.

 

In calling for a review of the NGCP's franchise under Senate Resolution No. 832, Marcos scored the “alarming lack of improvement” in the NGCP's power transmission capacity that has caused “automatic load-dropping incidents and grid-level outages, inadequate procurement of ancillary services to prevent outages, and delays in the completion of grid projects lasting as long as seven years.”

 

“We could have avoided the recent power outage in Panay if the Cebu-Negros-Panay Backbone Project and the Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection Project were finished on schedule. Now, billions have been spent with no ROI (return on investment) in sight,” she said. 

 

Instead of investing in the NGCP, the lawmaker said the government should exclude unfinished projects in the computation of the private corporation's rates. This will incentivize the NGCP to finish projects before recouping costs, she pointed out.

 

"There should be penalties for delays,” she also said, pointing to the recent decision of the ERC to exclude ongoing projects in resetting rates of the NGCP. 

 

NGCP has attributed the delays in their interconnection projects to right-of-way problems and the lengthy processes of obtaining permits from local government units (LGUs).

 

"Given the problem of permitting faced by NGCP projects, the inclusion of the respective leagues of LGUs in the EICC (Energy Investment Coordinating Council) can help in simplifying the process," the senator recommended. 

 

Marcos recalled it was former President Rodrigo Duterte's Executive Order No. 30, which created the EICC and recognized energy projects as Projects of National Significance.

Related Tags

Sen. Imee Marcos MAHARLIKA FUND Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) President Marcos
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