President Benigno Aquino III. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines鈥揚resident Aquino on Wednesday warned that the economy could lose up to P23.3 billion in the event of daily five-hour brownouts for three months next summer.
鈥淭he most expensive power is no power,鈥� he told a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap), citing concerns expressed by private companies wary of the government鈥檚 projected power shortage early next year.
Aquino said the estimated loss 鈥渄oes not include foregone investment and tourist arrivals arising from the negative impact of the power outage on the country鈥檚 image as an investment and tourist destination.鈥�
The President said a lower estimate of P9.3 billion in losses was based on daily two-hour brownouts.
鈥榁arious powers鈥� sought
鈥淚鈥檓 the guy who says 鈥榩lan for the worst and hope for the best,鈥� or you can take the opposite view of 鈥榟ope for the best and plan for the best,鈥欌�� he said, reiterating his request for Congress to grant him 鈥渧arious powers鈥� to address the supposed power shortage.
Aquino said that the measures the government was now trying to put in place would not lead to 鈥渢hat big an increase鈥� in the cost of electricity.
He ruled out renting generators because they required about six months to be set up. He said the Interruptible Load Program was a 鈥減lausible substitute but these standby generators for the most part have never been considered as baseload plants.鈥�
鈥淭here is a modicum of reserve. Our issue is the idea of forced outages [which] you cannot plan for,鈥� he said.
Not exaggerating
听
Malaca帽ang on Tuesday said the President and his Cabinet had been 鈥渢ruthful鈥� about the projected power shortage, amid accusations that the government was exaggerating the power situation so he could be granted emergency powers.
Aquino said the government was preparing for such a shortage because it would be ultimately be blamed.
鈥淚f there is no power come our summer months, there will only be one party that will be blamed, and that will be the executive [branch],鈥� he said.
鈥淪o we were asking from [Congress] various powers鈥攁nd not emergency but these are really embodied already in Epira [Electric Power Industry Reform Act]鈥攖o address the situation if and when El Ni帽o is really severe, the forced outages in the trend that they have shown in the past two years also continue, to address also the cannot-be-postponed Malampaya shutdown, amongst other things.鈥�