Editorials:

Illustration by Jimbo Albano

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, so it’s said.

That maxim applies especially to the poor, who must not only live by their wits but also cope with unaffordable power rates. A better option for them, however, is to discard candles for lighting and firewood for cooking and tap electricity instead. That’s the basic rationale for the government proposal to set aside a P2-billion subsidy for their electricity use.

The proposed P2-billion subsidy isn’t much considering the target of 1.9 million lifeline users who would be entitled to P1,000 a year, or P100 a month. Even if it’s a stop-gap measure, it’s a step forward anyway you look at it, considering what the poor are up against in these highly inflationary times. 

The better solution lies in implementing the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001 to the fullest. That’s the stand taken by foreign businessmen grouped under the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, and if they’re hot under the collar from high electricity bills, then local entrepreneurs may well be, too, if not more so.

In a letter to President Arroyo last week, the foreign chambers reiterated their “long-standing position NOT to amend RA 9136, or Epira,” saying that amending it “will have negative consequences that will not only dampen the confidence of both foreign and local investors but could even drive them away at a time when shortages in power supply already plague the Visayas and are expected in Luzon in the next several years.”

Besides, the group said, “Amending Epira will result in a highly unstable legal framework for the industry and investors. Such action would. . . put at risk the ongoing power-sector reforms. We appeal to the Executive and Legislative branches of government to instead focus. . . on implementing Epira in a timely fashion.”

The foreign businessmen also urged the President to allow “early and open access for industrial and commercial customers with at least 1-megawatt consumption” as this would jump-start retail competition among electricity suppliers that would “bring us a step closer to the power reforms’ primary objectives of providing a truly transparent, competitive and vibrant electricity industry market.”

The foreign businessmen have come up with a very concrete solution to high power rates that the government can ignore only at its own peril, considering the public mood at this time.

The lesson here: You can’t go wrong if, sometimes, you have to curse the darkness and light a candle at the same time.

Snail-paced asset reform   

While on the subject of reform, figure this one out: Government efforts to implement asset-reform programs intended to reduce poverty and improve income distribution have been slow, inadequate and deficient, but the beneficiaries—farmers, urban poor, indigenous peoples and fisherfolk—nonetheless say they are satisfied with where they are now.

Those are the findings of a recent study called the Philippine Asset Reform Project Report Card Project, conducted by a nongovernment network, the Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas.

The study looked into four major asset-reform programs: the 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, the 1992 Urban Development and Housing Act, the 1997 Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act and the 1998 Fisheries Code.

The overall assessment, according to the research team leader, former socioeconomic planning secretary Cielito Habito: the government’s implementation of the asset reform programs is “poor.” 

In other words, the government gets a failing mark in bridging the gap between the rich and the poor.

But while the findings aren’t flattering for the Arroyo administration, the study recommends that asset reforms be continued and even hastened in light of the country’s highly inequitable income distribution. The government’s Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES), in fact, indicates that the ratio of incomes of the richest 20 percent of Filipinos to the poorest 20 percent was 10 to one in 1988. In 2006, the ratio widened to 11 to 1.

Habito argues that while progressive taxation is a “normal mechanism” employed to improve income distribution, the Philippines’ experience shows that the “tax system, rather than improving income distribution, is worsening” it.

So what should be done to make the asset-reform programs truly benefit the poor? The study proposes that in terms of processes, “there needs to be some speeding up” plus “improvement in coordination across government agencies.”

The “persistent threats” to reversals in these asset reforms must also be addressed. For instance, the selling of distributed lands by agrarian-reform beneficiaries and lands sold in urban-reform housing must be stopped. 

In addition, the government must increase the budget for support services.

“Substantial improvements need to be undertaken to fully achieve their objectives and promote a truly broad-based growth and development of the Philippine economy,” the study concludes.

Research such as this are helpful in making the government sit up and take notice that what it has been doing for the poor leaves much to be desired. But what’s important, from our vantage point, is that policymakers in the government should now take the necessary remedial measures for the asset-reform programs to be more effective and credible.

It’s not too late.

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, so it’s said.

That maxim applies especially to the poor, who must not only live by their wits but also cope with unaffordable power rates. A better option for them, however, is to discard candles for lighting and firewood for cooking and tap electricity instead. That’s the basic rationale for the government proposal to set aside a P2-billion subsidy for their electricity use.

A lot of us have been faced with a situation where the circumstance calls for an answer on whether or not to be a partner, a creditor or merely an investor of a particular project or business.

The next investment scandal may have just passed us without our noticing it. Like most in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration, they strike like thieves in the night.

Coast-to-Coast: So, will the electric rates be reduced?

AS promised, the protagonists in the much-anticipated boardroom battle at the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) annual stockholders’ meeting last week did their level best to outmaneuver each other for control of the country’s biggest power-distribution company.

Boiled Green Bananas: Grace from children of God

One of the most memorable films I have seen is Children of a Lesser God, starring William Hurt. It is about a teacher (Hurt) who taught the deaf and dumb to speak even as they lived in a world of silence. In the film, those who are differently abled are described as “Children of of a Lesser God.” Children created from a different mold; children especially loved by God.

The Entrepreneur: Watch us work

THERE is absolutely no basis to criticisms that the Senate has been slow in the passage of important legislative measures. Our record speaks for itself. And I believe that the current session will be among the most productive for the chamber in terms of legislative output.

Reflections from the Mirror: Free text may be harmful

Circulated mostly through cellular phones, the idea that text messages should be free of charge will certainly appeal to all mobile-phone owners, especially those addicted to texting.