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FFW
Slams PPA
The moderate Federation of Free Workers (FFW) has joined the clamor
to scrap the anti-worker and anti-consumer Purchased Power Adjustment
(PPA) charged by electric companies and the National Power Corporation
(NPC). They are set to march to Congress during the State of the
Nation Address (SONA) of the President on Monday to air their
sentiments.
Ramon
J. Jabar, FFW President said that as early as Labor Day this year
they have denounced the PPA. While he mentioned that the reduction
in the PPA of as much as P1.26 per kilowatt hour this month will
immediately ease the burden of workers and consumers, he is wary
that we will eventually pay for it just the same. “The NPC
admits that they will lose around P5 billion this year for cutting
down on the PPA. How will they rebound from that deficit?”
Jabar asked. The NPC recently loaned US$100 million from a foreign
bank. “By 2003 we are afraid that a new universal charge may
actually incorporate the PPA into our electric bills!” he
said.
Meanwhile,
government studies revealed that 29 of the 35 contracts with Independent
Power Producers (IPPs) are with legal, financial and technical anomalies.
“Instead of stopping the PPA being passed on to the consumers,
government is settling for renegotiation, re-engineering and refinancing
of IPP contracts, without even holding the government agents accountable
for entering into onerous pacts,” Jabar lamented.
“Besides,
why should workers pay more for electricity, petroleum products,
water and other basic commodities when their wages remain low?”
he argued. Minimum wage in the National Capital Region is pegged
as P280.00. “The salary a worker receives is way beyond the
living wage needed to live a decent life,” he added.
Late
last year, the 200,000 strong FFW and its allies from the Labor
Solidarity Movement petitioned for a 77-peso across-the-board wage
increase to no avail.
Jabar
also lambasted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for issuing
a warning to the government against reducing power rates. Last month,
an IMF statement declared that the Philippines must fulfill its
commitments for loans incurred while trying to solve the power problem
of the 90s. “They (IMF) should not meddle with the affairs
of the State; the report of the committee that studied all the IPP
contracts was not even out when they issued the statement,”
he said.
The
FFW is a free and independent labor federation with local unions,
sectoral organizations and various associations from the whole country
as affiliates. Since its establishment in 1950 it has advocated
for the rights and welfare of Filipino workers.
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