WORKERS PICKET
MERALCO BRANCHES
“KONTRA PPA PATAK CENTERS" ESTABLISHED
Today,
workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), together
with Bukluran sa Ikauunlad ng Sosyalistang Isip at Gawa (BISIG), will join
the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) in picketing Meralco and setting up
a “Kontra PPA Tatak Center” at the Cubao MERALCO branch (near Ali
Mall) from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. As a sign of protest against the
Purchased Power Adjustment (PPA), the picketers would encourage Meralco consumers
to have their electricity bills stamped with “under protest” markings.
Similar centers will also be set up in different MERALCO branches that
include those in Kamuning (cor. EDSA), North Manila (Gen. Na cor Tiangco
St., Bgy. Concepcion, Malabon), and in Commonwealth Ave. (near
Sandiganbayan, Batasan, Q.C.)
In
a move to prop up her sagging popularity and to quell the public’s
clamor for the scrapping of the PPA, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s
has ordered the NAPOCOR to lower PPA charges to P0.40 per kilowatt-hour.
But this failed to impress the protesting workers.
“This
palliative measure entirely misses the point. So long as onerous contract
with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are honored, we would continue
to pay for overpriced power that we do not even consume, and in some
cases, was not even meant to be produced” Josua Mata, APL Secretary
General, declared.
The
President’s directive does not intend to solve the problem. Since it
continues to honor its onerous contracts with the IPPs, Government is now
scampering to find new loans to ensure these payments. This would merely
shift the burden of subsidizing the inefficiency and corrupt practices of
NAPOCOR, MERALCO and the IPPs to the future.
Scraping
the PPA is the only solution!
Unfortunately,
even the review of government contracts with the IPPs seems to be getting
nowhere. Up to now, the IPP Review Committee has yet to have its own
operational budget!
The
PPA is more than just an economic issue; it is an issue of grave
injustice. Why should the workers be asked to pay for something borne out
of corruption and mismanagement of the government in the power industry?
The workers could not simply reconcile the fact that they are paying for
something that they have never gained anything from but headaches and more
miseries. They could have used their hard earned money being paid for PPA
instead to buy other necessities like food, clothing, and educational
needs for their children.
The
picket is just part of the workers’ escalating campaign to scrap the PPA
and the contracts signed between the NAPOCOR and Independent Power
Producers.
The Alliance of
Progressive Labor is a national trade union center that embraces various
forms of workers’ organizations in the formal and informal sector. It is
a member organization of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC).
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