Just as I have blogged about being left behind in modernizing education through the use of technology because of power outtages, guess what I read in the papers today.
THE Philippines needs 400 billion pesos (7.18 billion dollars) over the next 10 years if it is to avoid recurring power shortages, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo warned Friday.
So, we are definitely not out of the woods yet when it comes to power shortage. We may not have had too many brownouts in years since 1993 when we would have 6-8 hours of brownouts but this only seems to be a lull before the storm.
However, is it really that bad? Or better yet, should it really be that bad?
With a Php100 billion deficit, the country's economy looks even dimmer. What makes me cry is that we are faced with this problem not for lack of resources but because of inefficiency and corruption. Hence, this is man made. Sad but we have to admit it, we are being governed by the most inept, power-starved, greediest bunch of people. If only the late Rev. Jim Jones were still alive, I would have suggested for all of us to just join him and drink that poison to save us from further shame and too much trouble.
In response to the situation, GMA has urged Congress to speed up a bill privatizing the Napocor. Passing the buck, eh? It is too bad already that the private sector had to shoulder education, a very important requisite to national development. Now, we also have to privatize basic commodities like water and electricity. What this means is that these commodities can skyrocket to high proportions because we know that government will still be inutile in controlling it, just like it is doing with the oil price increase. Besides, with that kind of debt, what Philippine company would have the ability to purchase and run the operations of Napocor smoothly? I'm seeing the possibility of another multi-national corporation taking the helm. What this means is that just like Citra, Malaysian firm, running the South Luzon Expressway increasing the cost of using the highway from a measly Php2.25 to its present rate of a whopping Php 42.50 from C5 to Alabang in only three years. And traffic is still there! Prices of power skyrocketing high? No, double that.
Now, can someone please tell me I'm really way off here and make my day happier?
17 comments:
I can still remember 1991-1992 when we had 8 to 16 hour rotating brownouts. The thought alone is making my head spin. Couldn't hardly work in the office. I was pregnant with my first kid and walking up the office building--four floors up--when electricity was out (bloody building had no generator) was not exercise. It was torture. Kaya yata premature baby ko.
Sassy Was that 1991-1992? That was terrible! I ahve a most embarrasing moment to tell brought about by that phenomenon. I had to attend this very important party and because there was no electricity at the time and I had to dress up hurriedly, I picked up the most outlandish pants (flowers and all. Not mine, of course)! and to make matters worst, my wife noticed (after I had gotten food from the buffet table ha) that my pants were inverted and my pockets were dangling out! Kakahiya talaga.
Maganda, maganda talaga ang naiisip na solusyon ni GMA. Isapribado ang mga korporasyon na pagaari ng gobyerno tapos hayaan ang mamamayan na magpakahirap bayaran ang lintik na pagkakautang na dulot ng mga kurakot na pinuno ng pamahalaan. Galing talaga, the best talagang kandidato itong si GMA. (asan na kaya yung nagsabi nun, naaalala mo pa ba sassy?)
Asan ba si tabako, ang yabang nya sa pagsasalitang naresolba nya na ang problema sa kuryente tapos etong tuta niyang si GMA ay magsasabi na kailangan 400 BILLION pesos para lang maiwasan ang power shortage na yan.
May liwanag pa kayang darating dito sa bansa natin?
ang bulk ng trabaho ko nung 1990's ay gumawa ng mga power plant sa kung saan saang part ng pilipinas. naging part ako ng team na nagbalik ng power during the time of FVR. ang hirap nuon ano? right after cory - kaliwa't kanan ang blackout. maraming kumita sa mga contract na iyon. i know how much and to whom the lagay was given. nakaka inis nga simula maliit na engineer hanggang sa mga boss ay may lagat.
yung mga ibang tao, hanggang ngayon naroon pa rin. masarap sanang umuwi ulit ano para gumawa ng mga project na ganito dahil may expertise na ako. kaya lang... tang@#$%, ang hirap lang makisama sa mga customer at para kang uto-utong nakabuntot sa kanila. tapos hihingi pa sa iyo ng pera. kapal ng mga mukha, ang sarap ibaon sa lupa ng buhay.
LAGAY! LAGAY! hindi lagat. hehehehe.... na high blood ata ako ng husto tito rolly.
actually, may trip ako sa september sa pilipinas. isa sa mga layunin ko ay makausap ang mga customer ko sa power industry dahil interesado na silang mag upgrade ng system. ang problema ngayon, sinusulot ako ng mga kalaban kong naglalagay ng pera doon sa customer ko. nawawalan nga ako ng gana na puntahan pa sila. pakiramdam ko, i'm in a losing battle. the sad fact, is that i have the better solution and my cost is lower. but still, i will lose i fear because i do not give money to bribe my customers. dang.
Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:31 am
Subject: what's going on
hey guys what going on....
btw, i am helping a economic research regarding
philippines ...regarding telephone industry in pinas, meron akong
nabasa sa economic think tank dito sa toronto na miski sino ang
manalo kay "ang panday o ang pandak" ang pinas will be in a economic
crises within the next ten years unless the winnning president make
the economy a turn around... kawawa naman si Lord...there will be 88
million pinoy making a prayer request in case this crises happens...
on the lighter side very matatag pa rin ang mga pinoy...ewan ko kaya
ako umalis dahil sa isang actor president...then eto na naman another
panday calling the shot in malacanang...
well good luck, any way ...what ever you choose i hope the luck
is in the incoming president sides
and to think life is like bowling... God always gives you a second
chance...
merci... tech guy
fast forward…..
above is my previous post in our egroups, I am moonlighting as an economic research support for economic think tank here in Toronto. The numbers for phil economic loan are very disturbing ….most the phil economic loans are maturing ( sabi nga ni sassy buti pa ang loan nagmamature ang mga men hinde…hehehe) within the next six years debt servicing will be a mapapamura ka na thing…
anonymous ba't kasi walang humuli sa mga kurakot e, no? In fairness, nung panahon ni Cory talaga nagsimula ang crisis sa kuryente. Ginawan ng paraan ni tabako. If you read Batjay's comments, isa siya sa mga engineer na nagtayo ng powerplants para maka-cope tayo sa power shortage. Now, hindi ko lang alam kung gaanong karami nangurakot noon pero to date, wala pang power shortage na katulad nung 1992. If we don't get our act together, baka bumalik yun. patay tayong bata tayo.
Batjay hindi kaya pwedent painan ang mga engot na government officials na yan? Ano kaya't bumalik ka dito, maglagay ng hidden camera sa sleeve mo, alukin sila ng sinasabi mo, at kapag nanghingi ng lagay, hulihin sabay bitay? Medyo harsh? Okay lang, kesa naman tayo patayin nyang mga yan. kakainit talaga ng ulo no?
techguy nung nasa umpisa pa lang ako, akala ko hindi mo pa alam na natalo ni pandak si panday. Re-post pala yun. hehehe
Pero, yung post mo para dito, medyo huli na rin. Kasi noon pa kami nagmumura sa pagbabayad ng utang. personally and on a larger scale.
San ka sa Toronto? May mga kaibigan ako dyan at kamag-anak e. Isa nga sa kanila, pari.
Well, I don't think I'm going to still take that poison and take the easy way out. Water and power distribution have already been privatized, as well as some of Manila's major expressways, like the takeover by the Indonesian company Citra of SLEX. I don't think that the government was really planning to sell NAPOCOR to purely Filipino companies, what with its debt in dollars along with the conundrum the Peso is experiencing. In line with this, the government is planning to activate the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and turn it into a Gas-Fired Power Plant; this would entail installing gas-powered turbines and removing the nuclear fuel and nuclear-powered equipment. The original equipment in the plant have utterly gone to waste! These pieces of equipment even have the protective blue film and now it's gonna cost the government $600M to refit the building!
Tito Rolly,
Kakainis talaga ang mga nangyayaring ito sa atin. Siguro marami pa tayong di alam na higit na mas malaking problema pagdating sa kalagayan ng ating bansa. Pero aminin man natin o hindi, hindi lang nangungulelat tayo sa ating mga kalapit-bansa sa Asia kundi mas marami rin tayong problema kaysa sa kanila dagdag mo pa na marami ring problema ngayon sa labas ng bansa na apektado rin tayo. Ang hinihiling ko na lang sana noong magpahayag si GMA sa SONA niya ay ilahad niya kung ano talaga ang kalagayan ng ating bansa at iba pang problema na kinakaharap. Sa ganitong panahon, mas makakatulong sa isang lider na magpakita ng sincerity kaysa pamumulitika ng sa ganon mabawasan ang hopelessness ng mga mamayanan na sa ngayon ay kailangang ng pagtitiis at ibayong pagsisikap at disiplina. Kapag hopeless ang isang tao mas malapit siyang gumawa ng di kanais-nais.
Sang-ayon ako sa mga sinasabi mo, bagamat mas binibigyan ko ng bigat ang inefficiency. Doble ang talo natin dahil dito (ninanakawan na nga tayo palpak pa ang ibang ahensya ng gobyerno).
-Santi
anonymous talaga? Never heard of the things you revealed. Care to sign your comments the next time?
Santi I did not have the opportunity to watch the SONA nor read about it in the papers. Jsut from bloggers like Sassy. So, hindi nya ba sinabi kung ano talaga ang estado ng bayan sa kasalukuyan? E di ba State of the Nation yun?
Nabasa ko lang din (as a news item) sa dyaryo via Internet. Nabangit niya yong ilan pero karamihan ay puro report on the government accomplishments and targets and general steps on how to achieve this.
Ang sa akin ba ay, nagbabasa naman tayo ng dyaryo at mga events at siguro may mga sarili tayong mga analysis at nakakarinig din naman tayo ng analysis ng iba na gusto nating i-confirm kung tama o mali (at ang mga ito nga ay inaasahan nating mangagaling dito sa pahayag ng pangulo). Yung tunay na SONA kung saan binabangit ang tunay na kalagayan ng Pilipinas at mga posible pang problema sa hinaharap. Ang paniwala o kutob ko kasi meroong mas serious pang problema ang ating bansa na hindi natin alam.
In August last year, cities across the northeastern United States including New York, and Canada were hit by the largest blackout in North American history. The blackout washed across a huge slice of North America, knocking out service in parts of eight states and Canada. George Bush said part of the problem was an “antiquated system” to distribute electricity nationally. It’s a wake-up call,” he said. The grid and delivery system need to be modernized. Accordingly, the US and Canada formed a joint task force to investigate what caused the blackout and how to prevent it from happening again. Officials throughout the affected areas appealed to the public to cut back on power use. One official of a power company said “Every light bulb matters today. If you don’t turn them off, they will go off.”
Not only in the Philippines. This was a common reaction of many Filipinos when power blinked out for more than 25 hours in “the city that never sleeps.” Power crisis exempts no one, even if you are the richest and most powerful country in the world. While Filipinos are all too familiar with the problem, Filipinos sense with dread that such a massive power outage can happen here in the Philippines. Except for the occasional jellyfish incidents, the Philippines has been blackout-free since an emergency problem was implemented in 1992. However, experts warn that the crippling power crisis could return in about five years. It’s a warning that the nation can’t afford to ignore.
Amen to that Yaps.. "Okey na yan" encourages mediocrity and during these times of hardships, the last thing we need is to be mediocre with a lot of things. Equally distressing is our "bahala na" attitude. I hope you and the others as young as you are don't fall into this Filipino trap.
Anonymous, that's precisely my point. I assume I'm still talking with Santi, huh?
Bong K I can just imagine how chaotic that would have been for the States and Canada. Everything seems to run with electricity out there. Well, I hope we don't ignore the warning signs. Five years is not a long time.
I have given you my email but you haven't written me yet. What' up?
Alam mo, Tito Rolly, pag may nag-reply sa comment, walang notification sa original commenter dito sa Blogger. Hirap i-track kahit masarap maki-discuss.
Kumuha ka na ng domain!!!! Promise, mas masaya.
Yes Sassy. I know what you're talking about but I have one basic problem. Wa datung. hehehe That explains a lot, doesn't it?
Post a Comment