Aquino ‘special powers’ OKd

President Benigno Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Sixteen senators  on Monday  voted   to pass on third and  final  reading  a joint resolution,  granting “special powers” to President Benigno Aquino  III to address the projected  “electricity  imbalance” in the Luzon  grid during the summer this year.
No  member of the Senate   objected or   abstained when Senate  Joint Resolution 12 initiated  by Senate President  Franklin Drilon and Senator Serge  Osmena III, chairman of the Senate committee on energy, was put to a vote  in the plenary.

The proposed measure was the chamber’s  response to  the President’s request   last September, 2014 to the two chambers  Congress for authority  to establish  additional generating capacity, citing  the projected “critical electricity situation” in  the summer of 2015 in Luzon.
The President, under the proposed measure,  will be authorized  to address the projected imbalance of the supply and demand for electricity  in the Luzon grid especially in 2015 and  2016 under certain  conditions.

In December , 2014, the  House  of Representatives  also approved House Joint Resolution No. 21 that seeks “to provide for the establishment of additional power generating capacity as mandated by Republic Act No. 9136, also known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), to effectively address the projected shortage of the supply of electricity in the Luzon grid from March 12 to July 2015.”

Congress will then convene a bicameral conference committee to reconcile the two versions of the proposed measure and  come up  with  a report for ratification by the two chambers.