Debt watchdog group joins opposition to Bataan nuke plant revival
MANILA, Philippines - A debt watchdog group on Monday joined opposition to the revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which it branded as the "Monster of Morong."
The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said Congress should stop a plan to rehabilitate and recommission the BNPP, which it said forces people to pay for power they do not need.
"This 'Monster of Morong' is a symbol of the Philippines' struggle against a debt-driven development strategy – often peppered with rent seeking and cronyism – that different administrations, including the current disposition, have espoused," said FDC vice president, former Rep. Etta Rosales, in an article on the FDC Web site (www.fdc.ph).
She added that to revive the BNPP would be to create greater social deficits and push the Filipino people deeper into the vicious debt and underdevelopment trap.
Making the BNPP operational will be to "gamble away the people's lives on a lost deal," she said.
FDC submitted a position paper to the House committees on energy and appropriations, questioning the projection of an impending power shortage.
It pointed out the government's track record in forecasting electricity as "self serving at worst and dismally inaccurate at best."
"First and foremost, where are the studies that support this claim of an impending power shortage?" asked Rosales.
The group cited the 1993 Power Development Plan by the Ramos administration projecting a 10 percent annual growth rate in demand for electricity over the next 10 years. - GMANews.TV
The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said Congress should stop a plan to rehabilitate and recommission the BNPP, which it said forces people to pay for power they do not need.
"This 'Monster of Morong' is a symbol of the Philippines' struggle against a debt-driven development strategy – often peppered with rent seeking and cronyism – that different administrations, including the current disposition, have espoused," said FDC vice president, former Rep. Etta Rosales, in an article on the FDC Web site (www.fdc.ph).
She added that to revive the BNPP would be to create greater social deficits and push the Filipino people deeper into the vicious debt and underdevelopment trap.
Making the BNPP operational will be to "gamble away the people's lives on a lost deal," she said.
FDC submitted a position paper to the House committees on energy and appropriations, questioning the projection of an impending power shortage.
It pointed out the government's track record in forecasting electricity as "self serving at worst and dismally inaccurate at best."
"First and foremost, where are the studies that support this claim of an impending power shortage?" asked Rosales.
The group cited the 1993 Power Development Plan by the Ramos administration projecting a 10 percent annual growth rate in demand for electricity over the next 10 years. - GMANews.TV
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