The state of calamity in Mindanao due to the El Nino that was drummed up and recently declared by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is something the government and the President could have avoided in its nine years in Malacanang.

Engr. Archie Orilliosa of the activist scientist group Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan (AGHAM)pointed out that El Nino has a fairly regular 5-7 years period of return and everyone knew that 2010 is an El Niño year.

“Emergency powers should be exactly for that-- unforeseen emergencies. The problems that government officials attribute to El Niño only reflect the fact that they have not prepared for its return since the PAGASA has announced it last year,” Orillosa said.

“Last year, climate change has been blamed pretty much for everything. The great floods and the disasters that struck the country was attributed to climate change,” he added.

“It just shows how government fails to see that the systemic problem of lack of power and infrastructure cannot be waved away as “force majeure” or Acts of God. It is reflective of the short sightedness that government took on since it started privatization of our public utilities”, stated Orillosa.

AGHAM noted that having El Niño does not automatically mean there will be drought for all parts of the Philippines. The receding water levels in Agus could thus be due to other factors such as heavy siltation in the dam and less from the El Niño.

Orillosa added, “With the declaration of a state of calamity done so near the elections, one cannot worry that the declaration is a license for election spending. The said release of funds could have been channeled similarly to farmers in Luzon particularly Isabela and Cagayan Valley but no similar action was done. Why the preference to Mindanao alone?”

“The reversal of the policies of privatization and liberalization of the power industry should have been done years ago. What do we get nine years after the Electric Power Industry Reform Act? Power rate increases, oligarchs owning chunks of power generation, persistent brownouts. It is high time to repeal the EPIRA and embark on renationalizing the power industry under a government that will truly serve the people”, he concluded.###

News Link:

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