P35.2B for just one law in 2013
Do you know that we taxpayers spent P35.2 billion last year for just one insignificant law? That’s how much we spent for Congress, including the Commission on Appointments (CA) which is composed of senators and congressmen, and their pork barrel, which had not yet been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last year. In return, Congress last year passed only one minor law: the one-page Republic Act No. 10632, which suspended the 2013 Sangguniang Kabataan elections. For that one law, Filipino taxpayers spent P35.2 billion! That merits a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
This was revealed in a statement given to me by election lawyer Romulo Makalintal.
“While Congress also passed the 2014 budget in 2013, the same should not even be considered an accomplishment since it is Congress’ obligation to pass [it]…,” Makalintal said. “As a matter of fact, the Constitution provides that if Congress fails to pass the budget law for a particular year, the budget for the preceding year is ‘deemed reenacted and shall remain in force and effect.’
“In year 2011, the Senate’s budget was P2.6 billion, HR (House of Representatives) with P8.3 billion, and the CA with P400 million. In 2012, the Senate’s budget was P2.9 billion, the HR P5.8 billion and the CA P500 million. Again, with this huge amount and their respective pork barrels, the years 2011 and 2012 did not likewise prove to be very significant years for Congress in terms of performance and accomplishment. It only came up with the reproductive health bill and the postponement of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to synchronize with the 2013 national and local elections, as their major legislation.”
Makalintal proposed the amendment of the Constitution to abolish Congress. Legislation can be enacted by the provincial boards which accurately know the needs of their constituents, he said.
The huge savings that would be generated when Congress is abolished can be used to finance more urgent needs, like the rehabilitation of areas devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” he added.
We do waste a lot of taxpayer money on Congress, but I will not go as far as to call for its abolition. Limiting its session time would be enough.
That’s what is done in other countries. Urgent bills are accumulated and then the legislature is called to a session, for a limited time, to act on these bills. The legislators are paid only when they attend the sessions, unlike here when they are paid for the whole year and even when they do not attend sessions.
Not a bad idea. It would reduce absenteeism in Congress and save the people a lot of money.
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Meralco complains that it is being blamed for the increase in power rates. Don’t look at us, it says. We did not raise the rates, the power generators did. We only collect what the generators charge us. Everything goes to them, not a centavo remains with us.
Meralco says the four major generation companies earned, for the first three quarters of 2013, a whopping P58.73 billion. Wow! That’s roughly P14 billion for each of them. And that’s only for the first three quarters. Imagine how much more would be added to their coffers with the impending increase in power rates.
Was there collusion among the power generators when they shut down at the same time during the Christmas season when demand for electricity was at its highest? That’s too much of a coincidence. The Senate and the Energy Regulatory Commission are investigating whether there was indeed collusion.
It is not surprising why power generators are not happy with the existing Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), which offers contracted and lower energy prices.
Power generators don’t earn from the WESM. In fact, it is the main reason they cited for their declining profits in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012.
The announcement of one of the highest increases in power rates for December 2013 and January 2014 elicited a barrage of protests from consumers.
Most put the blame on Meralco because it is the one that sends electricity bills and collects the payments. But clearly, generation charge is only a pass-through charge. As a distributor, Meralco only collects payments but does not earn from these. It immediately forwards the generation charge to the power generators.
Being one of Meralco’s sources of power, the WESM gets paid during the process. Meaning, Meralco does not get even a single peso for the trouble of collecting the generation charge—and being castigated for it.
Power generators were not happy when energy regulators announced a temporary lower price cap on the WESM’s supply trades (P32,000 per megawatt-hour or P32 per kWh from the existing P62,000/MWh or P62/kWh), simply because it would mean lower profits for them.
Meralco is not earning from the lower price cap for excess energy available at the WESM.
The generation charge is deregulated while the distribution charge—the only charge that goes to Meralco—is regulated and capped.
Even without the all-time-high increase in generation charge last December, one power generator had a P25-billion net income in 2012. In 2013, another power generator posted an estimated P39 billion net income.
And here’s information that most consumers don’t know: A huge chunk of their electricity bill—equivalent to more or less 60 percent of the entire bill—goes to power generators.
Now you know who gets the lion’s share of the increase.
