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Friday, March 29, 2024

Duterte signs E0s creating two new govt bodies

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President Rodrigo Duterte has signed two Executive Orders creating the Energy Investment Coordinating Council under the Department of Energy and the Strategy, Economics, and Results Group in the Department of Finance.  

In Executive Order No. 30, Duterte established the EICC, which will lead and coordinate national government efforts on matters relevant to the development of energy investments in the country, particularly Energy Projects of National Significance.

To streamline the regulatory procedures affecting energy projects, the EO said that the  baselines in the processing of EPNS, from prior approvals of applications to actual approval, should not exceed the 30-day time frame.

For the issuance of Environmental Compliance Certificates for EPNS, the Department of Natural Resources will formulate a guideline consistent with the objectives and provisions of this Order.

To be headed by a representative from the DoE, the EICC will convene within 30 days from the effectivity of the EO and will exercise functions such as the establishment of a simplified approval process, preparation of rules governing the resolution of inter-agency issues, maintenance of an information database and a web-based monitoring system, creation of inter-agency subcommittees and submission of quarterly progress reports, among others.

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On the other hand, EO No. 31 organized the SERG to provide strategic advice to the DoF secretary, who likewise chairs the Economic Development Cluster; conduct fiscal economics policy research; and manage and coordinate transformative reforms of the Finance department.

Under the direct control and supervision of the DoF secretary, the SERG is composed of Strategy and Results Office and Fiscal Economics Research Office, each headed by a Director IV.

The SRO is primarily tasked to develop strategy maps and plans converting priority socioeconomic agenda into executive and legislative action from a fiscal perspective.  It will likewise provide fiscal policy advice, manage up-to-date fiscal economic data bank, prepare implementation plans and build fiscal reform coalitions in support of the priority programs of the Duterte administration.

The FERO, meanwhile, is in charge of the research and analysis, simulation, and monitoring of priority programs.   It will also initiate and participate in the discussions and collaboration with development partners and other stakeholders.

The SERG is coterminous with the tenure of the DOF Secretary under the current Administration.

Meanwhile, two party-list lawmakers said that the ERC should explain its alleged questionable decision to approve without due process power supply agreements for the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos.Zarate said the ERC should practice prudence and as a “guardian of public interest.”

“The ERC—supposedly the guardian of public interest, protector of the consumers against monopolization and cartelization, and promoter of competition and least cost power—however,  mysteriously extended by five months the implementation of said DOE circular,” Zarate said.

Zarate denounced the ERC commissioners for allowing Meralco to forge a 20-year supply deal with seven affiliates of the power utility  with the alleged absence of compliance with the required CSP.

“We can theoretically agree on something here, but in reality we’ll be tied up for 20 years, there is a claim earlier that there were lower prices, why didn’t Meralco choose those?” Zarate told a congressional hearing Tuesday.

Zarate authored House Resolution 566 asking the House committee on energy to conduct a congressional probe into the decision of the ERC allegedly to extend an order that allowed all distribution companies to conduct a competitive selection process (CSP) in procuring power supply.

By doing so, Zarate said the ERC committed a “suspicious” act of “denying the consumers the benefit of competition and subjecting all over again to the presumably overpriced negotiated prices between Meralco and its affiliated generation companies.”

Zarate said the construction of the transmission lines triggered the approval of power supply agreements that will result in higher power rates in the next 20 years.

Zarate earlier alleged that the ERC approved the P1.7-billion transmission line for a power plant of a subsidiary of Meralco without undergoing proper bidding, But Meralco had denied the allegations.

Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy, for her part, questioned the 20-year contract which amounts to P12.44 million a year.

She said consumers will carry the burden of higher electricity rates.

“I would like to listen to the side of Meralco and ask what is our flexibility clause in the contracts, Herrera-Dy said.

“It’s frightening to approve a 20-year contract that we don’t know the price flexibility clause that we have. Alternative energy can decrease anytime, cheaper than what is being stated in the contract,” she added.

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