No complicated graphs are needed to illustrate the fact that Iloilo province is confronted with a serious power supply crisis in the years ahead, and that there is a need to build base-load power plants that can provide a stable, and cheap, flow of electricity.
Already, Iloilo City has earned the unsavory reputation as the city with the highest cost of power in a recent survey conducted by the Asian Institute of Management on the competitiveness of major cities of the country. Power constitutes the number one cost factor among manufacturers and call center operations, and the situation in Iloilo will only discourage investors from setting up shop here.
There is also the growing frequency of the rotating brown-outs as power distributors struggle to cope with growing demand for electricity in the face of a widening supply gap.
With this in mind, I had no hesitation in taking the microphone last Thursday during the briefing conducted by the Department of Energy on the supply situation of power in the island of Panay.
I made it clear to the assembly that the Iloilo provincial government under Governor Niel Tupas, Sr. supports private sector initiatives to build clean-coal power plants in Concepcion, Iloilo and Iloilo City.
Iloilo is a province that could grow economically in leaps and bounds if only it had enough power supply, and cheap, too. The only way we could compete with other provinces for investments and generate more jobs for our people is to build the infrastructure for power.
I noted that the Korean Electric Power Company (KEPCO) had originally planned to build a 100-megaWatt clean-coal power plant in Banate, Iloilo, but when it encountered a hostile environment, it didn’t blink twice in deciding to pack its bags and bring the power plant to Cebu province.
Now, there are now three clean-coal power plants in Cebu, and it is definitely several notches higher than Iloilo province in terms of economic development. With its flourishing export-oriented manufacturing sector, and emergence as one of the top business process outsourcing (BPO) centers in the country, Cebu is hungry for cheap and stable power. Thus, it didn’t hesitate to roll out the red carpet to Kepco.
That hostility toward Kepco was the biggest mistake Ilonggos made. The transfer of the coal-fired plant to Cebu moved back the timetable for the establishment of a base-load plant for Panay island was set back five years.
And if the protesters against the proposed coal-fired power plants are worried about the health hazards that these facilities will bring, then my answer is simple: show me proof that the incidence of upper respiratory ailments have increased significantly in Cebu over the past 10 to 15 years.
I will bet one thing, though: the people of Cebu enjoy better health and economic benefits because of the climate of prosperity made possible by these coal-fired plants. With more people employed, they are better able to afford better nutrition for their children, send their children to school, and provide for better medical care for their families.
If there is one thing we ought to fear, it is the fear of darkness.
And that seems to be the path that the opponents of coal-fired power plants want Iloilo to take.
Should we follow that path?
Definitely, NO!
