LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

Fongwan and Napocor’s long overdue accounts
MARCH L. FIANZA

A man in straw hat drives his army jeep past the soldier at the gate of the National Power Corp. in Ambuclao. The guard waves and the driver stops. He asks for the driver’s identification who gladly introduces himself in Ilocano: “Siyak apo dytoy nanumo nga President Ramon Magsaysay.”

The soldier stood there speechless but delivered a snappy salute to the “Guy” who came to visit the on-going construction of the biggest man-made rock-fill hydroelectric dam in Asia. That was 58 years ago today; still the story about President Magsaysay is told and retold in communities around the dam in Bokod.

As for the soldier, he was fortunate because he was promoted on-the-spot for doing his duty of stopping anyone who walks past the gate, including the president of the republic.

With more than 327,000,000 cubic meters of water drained from the Agno River to supply the dam’s storage capacity, Benguet, particularly Ambuclao has been contributing 75 megawatts of electricity to the Luzon grid. Agno River is the longest waterway in Luzon.

Ancestral rice fields lost for good, displacement of hundreds of families and their landholdings, and a seemingly permanent interruption of culture characterized the construction of the Ambuclao dam. Today, hundreds of descendants of displaced families still await the promise of payment from Napocor, considered as one of the richest government corporations in the land.

Aside from the construction of the Ambuclao dam, privately owned mining camps spouted all over Benguet. But nothing could satisfy man’s lust for development, so that the construction of Binga Hydro-electric Dam in Itogon followed three years later after Ambuclao. The dam holds 936,000 sq. m. of waters drained from the Agno River and has been producing 100 megawatts for the Luzon Grid.

At present, four big dams that include Magat Dam in the boundary of Ifugao and Isabela; and San Roque Dam in the Southern boundary of Benguet and Pangasinan contribute electricity to the Luzon Grid. Our lowland brothers in Metro Manila and the mining companies all over who hide their income statements in Makati should be thankful to Benguet and the upland areas for their development.

Benguet’s sour relations with Napocor do not stop there. Magat, Binga and Ambuclao have transferred ownership several times. Ironically today, a few sitios around the dams have yet to be energized. The farthest barangays in Makati or Luzon are luckier than their counterparts in Tinongdan and Dalupirip where Binga and San Roque are respectively located. The situation is the same in Ambuclao and Magat.

Last month Aboitiz Power Hydro Inc. (APHI) won the auction for the 175-megawatt Ambuklao-Binga hydro-electric plant complex with a bid of $325 million. In fact, APHI already acquired the 300-MW Magat hydro electric plant in Ifugao-Isabela in December 2006.

The Ambuklao and Binga hydro-electric plants are the oldest dam structures in the Philippines , and the subject of the third bidding for privatization that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) conducted.

With that, a few questions come to mind. First, will Aboitiz pay for the dues being collected by Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan from the Napocor and PSALM? Second, did the government or Napocor by design did not want to pay their dues, knowing as early as the time of President Ramos that the dams would eventually be sold to private bidders?

Fongwan last Nov. 13, filed a case in court to collect franchise taxes unpaid by Napocor in the amount of P57 million. In addition, P116 million is being demanded from Napocor as the province’s share from national wealth taxes. Another payment in the amount of P26 million is being demanded for payment of real property taxes in Binga, bringing all collectibles to a total of P199 million.

I ask forgiveness for any bias if our readers see some of it in this space, but I believe the province has all the rights to file the case for collection against Napocor and PSALM because it felt it has exhausted efforts to negotiate and demand for what is long overdue.

In his speech during the general assembly of member-consumers of the Benguet Electric Coop., Fongwan said Napocor must pay because all its equipment, facilities and landholdings are inside Benguet. Napocor must pay Benguet because the Agno River flows into San Roque and “San Roque can not be there without the waters of Benguet.”

In addition, Fongwan said Napocor must pay its franchise taxes on transmission aside from the national wealth. “I tell them to pay because it is what is due (P300 million) to the province and because we need roads, bridges and farm-to-market roads,” he said.

In fact it is quite startling to know that what Fongwan intends to collect may be too measly an amount, compared to what Napocor has paid the former operators of the Binga plant. Binga Hydro Electric Plant Inc (BHEPI), the company headed by Filipino-Chinese businessman Catalino Tan took over management of the dam in the mid 90s during the time of President Ramos.

According to retired Brig. Gen. Mario Espina, then BHEPI Vice-president, Tan collected a staggering amount of P600-million of the firm's profits. Newspapers also reported that Napocor paid BHEPI under Tan US$33 million for the power generated from 1995 to 1999. This is on top of the US$25 million paid to CCJEC from 1993 to 1995 when Tan stayed behind the scenes.

Benguet is collecting what is long overdue – only a small amount of what has been pocketed by bilkers during the times of Marcos, Cory, Ramos, Erap and now – Gloria.
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Reports from Jueteng kubradores say that gambling lord RP has been eased out from the operations of the illegal numbers game because he has been wasting the collected jueteng bets in the Poro Point casino. Witnesses said RP raises his stake to as much as P250,000.

They also said that Luding, the operator has taken over La Trinidad jueteng in addition to Baguio. Jueteng still operates in Buguias, Mankayan, Itogon and Tuba. By the way a barangay head who used to be one with the operators lost in the last barangay elections. He has been reduced to a mere kubrador. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com