- MITCH M. LIPA
Hundreds of clean energy advocates and representatives of labor, youth, and consumers groups decried the policies and systems in the power sector that they claimed, promote destructive and costly energy, and fail to protect the interest of consumers and ordinary Filipinos.
They also endorsed presidential candidate Leody de Guzman, who joined the rally in front of the old Bacolod City Hall Nov. 24.
They called for the advancement of workers’ rights, and swift and just transition to clean energy and people-centered reforms in the power sector.
“Because of COVID-19, workers across Negros and the Philippines today are heavily burdened not only by limited or lost livelihood, but by the increasing costs of basic necessities. As we seek to move forward from this crisis towards a new normal where workers and ordinary Filipinos are far more empowered, part and parcel of our recovery plans should be tapping renewable energy sources that can create much needed green jobs and supply affordable and reliable electricity in the long-term,” de Guzman, who is also the chairman of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), added.
The groups, composed of BMP, Konsyumer Negros, Partido Lakas ng Masa, Sanlakas, and the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, said it is high time to scrutinize how the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) shaped the power sector, and put forward energy development directions that will empower end-users while advance sustainability and affordability of electricity.
Griderick Alila, coordinator of Konsyumer Negros, said the two decades of EPIRA brought the people nowhere near to the promise of healthy competition among private players and least-cost electricity for consumers.
“Instead, we find ourselves struggling to pay bills while having little to no say in processes that determine the kind and cost of electricity we get, which today is increasingly expensive and largely taken from dirty energy sources, like coal and gas, that cause suffering to communities while also destroying the climate and environment,” Alila added.
The groups committed not to stand idly by when they know that far better alternatives in the form of renewables can be made./MML
