Press Release
May 11, 2008

KIKO ON POWER INDUSTRY WOES:"Making MERALCO the punching bag won't solve high cost of electricity!"

In light of the Senate investigation on the power crisis set tomorrow, Senate Majority Leader and Independent senator Kiko Pangilinan today warned the public that putting all the blame on power provider MERALCO could be an attempt "to gloss over the shortcomings of other players in the industry."

"The public must be warned that bashing MERALCO per se and providing the public a punching bag to express its anger over the high cost of power will not bring down the rates of electricity,"Kiko said.

"There are no shortcuts in the process of reforming the power industry and the effort of government to do a 'slam dunk' by going all out against MERALCO alone is an attempt at a shortcut that will not solve our power woes. It may make good political noise but it won't solve the problem. The public is being taken for a ride and is in for a major disappointment if it swallows the government line about MERALCO. Going after MERALCO alone without instituting the corresponding reforms in NAPOCOR, PSALM, TRANSCO and all other players in the industry will not bring down power rates," Kiko added.

"It appears MERALCO is being demonized so that the rest of the 'sinners' in the industry, particularly government owned corporations, go unnoticed. It is possible that there are groups out to pin down MERALCO for its share of shortcomings in the power sector in the hope that the 'sins' of NAPOCOR and other players are glossed over. If genuine reforms are to be achieved, no one should be spared from being made to account for failures in the power industry," Kiko ended

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