Angara: Power crisis can be tipping point in Mindanao insurgency

Unless the government acts decisively, the ongoing power crisis in Mindanao can be a “tipping point” for the insurgency in the south, a senator warned Sunday. Sen. Edgardo Angara issued the warning even as Malacañang allayed fears of a job shortage and possible layoffs due to the brownouts in Mindanao. “(T)his can be a tipping point sa Mindanao. At the very least it will fuel, baka gatungan ang ongoing insurgency sa Mindanao. 'Yan ang worst scenario but I hope that (won’t) happen," Angara said in an interview on dzBB radio. Rebel groups based in Mindanao include the communist New People’s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose political fronts are in peace negotiations with the government. Angara said the government must show that it is working to solve the problem. “(Dapat) makita ng taga-Mindanao ang (gobyerno) talagang kumikilos (Mindanao residents need to see the national government doing something to solve the problem),” he said. Earlier, Malacañang allayed fears stemming from claims by former Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri that the brownouts may lead to mass layoffs. Zubiri was quoted as saying agricultural plantations and fishing operations that depend on mechanization and cold-storage, as well as petroleum and water industries have been impaired. In response to Zubiri’s warning, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said short- and long-term measures are already in place. The long-term solution, she said, includes a power plant that may generate 250 megawatts once it is completed in 2014. But the immediate solution, according to her, is to blend power from hydroelectric plants and power barges that may result in a minimal power rate hike. “The choice is either to pay a little extra for power, or not have any power at all,” she said on government-run dzRB radio. Valte said President Benigno Aquino III will call a summit to appeal for the cooperation of all stakeholders and local government units. “(This) is why the president appealed for cooperation from all stakeholders and from local government units as well.... Everybody has to share in the burden,” she said. Meanwhile, Valte denied claims that the government is trying to blackmail Mindanao folk into accepting the use of coal-fired power plants by supposedly creating an artificial shortage. “This is not something being created by government,” she said. — LBG, GMA News