Incoming Senate Energy panel chair Raffy Tulfo to prioritize tackling system loss, power outages

Senator-elect Raffy Tulfo on Monday said he would prioritize deliberations on the problems of system loss and power outages in the country as these directly affect consumers.

"As chair of the energy [committee], ang unang-una talagang tatama sa sikmura ng ating mga kababayan ‘yung tinatawag na system loss, 'yung pagtaas ng kuryente, 'yung palaging brownout. 'Yun yung mga bagay na talagang unang ia-address natin. 'Yun ang unang-unang tatama sa sikmura ng mga kababayan natin especially sa mga mahihirap na kababayan," the neophyte senator said in an interview.

(As chairman of the Energy Committee, we will prioritize the issues that will directly affect the poor such as system loss, the increase in power rates, and the power outages in the country.)

Tulfo said he was still assessing the proposals to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) considering that the facility had structural defects, its location was prone to typhoons, there could be problems with the nuclear waste, and it was prone to accidents.

On the other hand, Tulfo said nuclear energy was less costly and there were many benefits in terms of energy supply.

The broadcaster-turned-lawmaker also noted that the suspension of excise taxes amid rising fuel costs had to be studied carefully, and he vowed to tackle the issue in the next Congress along with other investigations which were halted upon the closing of the 18th Congress.

To help him with the continuation of probes, Tulfo said Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the chair of the Senate Energy panel in the 18th Congress, offered to be his vice-chairman.

Initially, Tulfo said he was vying for the Senate Committee on Labor and Employment, but he decided to yield to Senator-elect Jinggoy Estrada as Estrada was the more senior senator.

Apart from the Senate Energy panel, Tulfo would also head the Committee on Overseas Filipino Workers.

In a previous interview, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, who is poised to be the next Senate president, said they would create the new Committee on OFWs in the Senate following the creation of the Department of Migrant Workers.

Tulfo visited the Senate on Monday to attend a legislative process briefing with the Senate secretariat led by Deputy Secretary for Legislation Atty. Edwin Bellen. — DVM, GMA News