Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 7) — The government should nationalize the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) instead of letting the Maharlika Investment Corp. (MIC) invest in the private operator, Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel said Sunday.
In a statement, Manuel, a critic of the Maharlika Investment Fund being managed by the MIC, said the corporation “gambles the people’s funds for investments benefiting cronies and favored companies.”
“Maharlika investing into NGCP, a private grid corporation owned by China and two Filipino billionaires, will only line the pockets of the rich and the powerful amidst its role in the Western Visayas blackouts. Why not directly use people’s funds to nationalize NGCP instead?” he added.
Last week, the NGCP was under fire as the Panay sub-grid failure caused a blackout in Western Visayas. Lawmakers have expressed intent to probe the power outage.
The MIC on Saturday said it is open to the idea of investing in the NGCP, endorsing the suggestion of House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Romualdez earlier said committing money to the NGCP is a “strategic investment” that would help beef up its infrastructure and subsequently reduce power rates.
MIC President and CEO Rafael Consing Jr. said the possible investment “holds immense potential” and will be a “bold step” towards securing energy independence.
But Manuel noted that providing cheap and accessible basic utilities, including electricity, “has not happened” under privatization of state assets and foreign ownership in the energy sector brought about by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.
The Kabataan party-list is also calling on authorities to “assess NGCP’ s performance as expected from its franchise, audit its transaction [and] probe into its ownership.”
The NGCP consortium comprises Henry Sy. Jr’s Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., Robert Coyiuto Jr.’s Calaca High Power Corp., and the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) as a technical partner.
The SGCC has a 40% stake in the NGCP.
