INTRODUCTION
Mr. Senate President; Mr. Speaker; the distinguished leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives; your excellencies of the diplomatic corps; my co-workers in government; ladies and gentlemen; mga mahal na kababayan.

Amid today’s headlines of thousands of jobs lost and billions of pesos in economic opportunities gone in darkness, we approve the Electric Power Crisis Bill into law. The delegated authority which this new law gives me is definitely much less than what I have asked for to solve, once and for all, our country’s long-standing problems of darkness and lost opportunity. Nevertheless, it could not have come sooner for us to deal head-on with the crippling energy crisis.

I reiterate my gratitude to the leadership of both houses of Congress for the swift approval of this measure. I completely understand your caution in granting the special powers we originally asked for. But let me assure you once again, as well as the entire Filipino nation, that your concern about preserving our democracy and its moral and ethical qualities could not be more than mine.

Let us not allow unreasonable fear to overcome our shared vision to get our country and people out of their long period of darkness and suffering.

Early in my administration, I made it clear that our energy and power sector must be developed at the rate of from 10% to 12% per year from 1993 to 1998, if the Philippines is to catch up with current demand and provide sufficient reserve to exploit the opportunities for agricultural modernization, industrial expansion and job generation now emerging in the dynamic, fast-growing region of Asia-Pacific in which we occupy a central, strategic position. We must never lose sight of our strategic, long-term interests which we now realize are intimately connected to sufficiency in power and energy.

The new law notwithstanding, we have not significantly moved on the energy and power front as of this moment to support our vision of faster Philippine development. I must point out, that, much as I do appreciate the expeditious and supportive manner with which the leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives responded to my call, the national leadership from all three branches of government must continue to work more closely together and faster on the critical policies and programs that will achieve for the Philippines a truly competitive position in our part of the world.
THE FEATURES OF THE NEW LAW
This law gives me the requisite mandate to more effectively address the problem. There should be no question as to the political will of this administration and our determination to solve the problem, which arose out of serious lapses in policy decisions and program implementation of the past. By this measure, we can now implement fast-track solutions, and not just fast-track projects.

Let me enumerate the four special powers this law provides:

First, to enter into negotiated contracts for the construction, repair, rehabilitation, improvement or maintenance of power plants, projects and facilities, subject to various conditions.

Second, to fix the rate of return of base to not more than 12 percent of the rate base, subject to several safeguards.

Third, to reorganize the National Power Corporation to make it effective, innovative and responsive and to upgrade compensation of its personnel as may be provided for in its 1994 approved budget, subject to certain conditions.

And fourth, to derive from PAGCOR 10 percent of its aggregate gross earnings for the next five years after deducting the five percent franchise tax and the 50 percent income share of the national government.

The first provision allows the suspension of the public bidding law on government projects. To allay fears that this may lead to more graft and corruption, adequate safeguards have been provided by the law. Before NAPOCOR enters into a power contract, the list of projects, the amount involved, and the complete text of the contract shall first be published in a national newspaper. The contract shall be awarded only to those who meet the qualification requirements of existing laws, and all awarded projects shall be subjected to existing government auditing rules and regulations governing negotiated contracts.

The second provision that authorizes the review and revision on the return on rate base for power utilities, including the NAPOCOR, may result in rate increases. But this is the price we have to pay if we want to put an end to the crisis and adequately provide for the future. General power rate increases arise out of the completion of the fast-track power projects, entered into by the past administration, since these are more expensive sources of power than regular base-load power plants. An increase of 17 or 18 centavos per kilowatt hour will enable the government, the country to free millions of dollars in loans frozen by multinational and multilateral financial institutions.

The upward adjustment will also enable us to intensify our efforts to construct regular base-load power projects that depart from the more expensive oil-dependent sources and towards more cost-efficient, indigenous sources of energy like hydro-electric and geothermal, to produce cheaper electricity for consumers.

The third provision will enable us to address short-term measures and long-range reforms in NAPOCOR so that it can be more efficient and accountable to the people. There should be no question as to the need to revamp the top and middle management of the NAPOCOR. But in our anger and anguish, let us give due credit to, and commend even, the rank and file who operate our power plants and who construct the distribution systems from power plants to households and factories regardless of their difficulty, long hours, low pay and verbal abuse of the NAPOCOR as a whole.

The fourth provision amends the PAGCOR charter as it allots part of its gross earnings as additional capital contribution to the NAPOCOR. We must bear in mind that new power plants require additional multi-million pesos of funding on the part of NAPOCOR. Along with the RORB adjustment, this contribution from PAGCOR should generate added revenues to support the construction of new power plants and the installation of transmission lines.

At bottom, we expect our fast-track projects — which will generate an additional 1,100 megawatts by the end of 1994 — to cover expected shortfalls between now and next year. This law makes sure that we will not have a repeat, in the next years, of the 1991-1993 power and energy shortages.
AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE
This new law puts us back on the road to recovery — partially. In the meantime, I am appealing to our people to stretch their forbearance until we can feel the effects of on-going projects which will be insured in their completion by these special measures.

In issuing this appeal, let me mention here that our efforts in energy development are not limited to electricity. We are doing well on the oil and natural gas front. The confirmed discoveries in Linapacan and Camago-Malampaya both in Palawan are excitingly loaded with great potential. The oil refineries are expanding. The privatization of Petron is progressing well. Our geothermal power sources are being developed as rapidly as possible. Only recently, an agreement was signed among the major oil companies to dramatically reduce the lead content in gasoline that has polluted the air that we breathe.

Earlier this morning, we witnessed an agreement to put 104 mini-hydro power plants good for 51 megawatts in many countryside locations, which have been left rusting away in bodegas during the last few years. I do not know why.

This Electric Power Crisis Law signifies the leadership’s sensitivity to public clamor to end the power shortage once and for all. It also manifests our earnest desire to remove some of the major obstacles against our attainment of newly industrializing countries status by the year 2000.

I trust that all of you, particularly the members of Congress will continue to help generate the resources, and reinforce the needed moral support to help solve our country’s numerous problems. We are doing everything humanly possible to bring our country back on the track to sustained development and NIC-status. The gains we shall receive in the foreseeable future will be most rewarding not only for us at this time, but also for the generations to come.

Sa inyong lahat, maraming salamat po. Mabuhay ang Republika ng Pilipinas!