Electricity, the business and the IPs
>> Friday, December 9, 2022
IP Talk
Rocky Ngalob
“Pagan-ano mi eti kuryente
Noh awan masilawan
A makan ti lamisaan
Ay ay..”
(From the song Pagasarmingan by Salidummay)
It has long plague the Indigenous Peoples’
(IPs) psyche the myth that the host communities will enjoy free electricity
should they consent to Hydroelectric Power Projects (HEPPs) within their
respective Ancestral Domains (ADs). It has conditioned the minds of both IPs
and non-IPs the notion that those who withhold their consent or those who
campaign for rejection of HEPPs, within the IPs’ context of sustainable
resource management, are either anti-development, anti-government or belonging
to subversive groups.
This myth has created a dichotomy within the once united and undivided IP community. It created two feuding groups - the “pros” and the “antis”. This polarization of the IP Communities are commonly exhibited during the conduct of the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes for Hydroelectric Power Projects (HEPPs). Habitually, pushing the IP communities to deviate from their centuries-old customary decision-making process from a once collective and communal consensus into divisive decision pitting the majority versus the minority via the foreign concept of election process.
The spirit of genuine FPIC of IPs demands not only correct information but also substantial and useful facts. And through FPIC, the IPs must be equipped with the knowledge on how the nation’s electric power industry work before they enter into consensus-building and decision-making.
The genealogy of the nation’s thrust in the electric industry was a rapid evolution; from once a form of basic service duly disposed by government for the enjoyment of the populace, towards an object of commodity susceptible for commerce profited by the selected few. This evolution is clearly seen through past experiences of the Ibaloy IPs of Itogon and Bokod.
The sacrifices of IPs for nation’s development
In the 1950’s, just right after the World War II, the Philippine Government, through the National Power Corporation (NPC), acquired the private properties of IPs dwelling in both Itogon and Bokod. Said acquisition of properties, by operation of imminent domain, paved way for the construction of Ambuclao and Binga dams.
The IPs, mostly the Ibaloy, were forced surrender their homes, burial grounds, farm and pasture lands to the Philippine Government to give way for national development. IPs in the Bokod and Itogon paid the ultimate sacrifice and were boxed-out from their Ancestral Lands wherein most of them ended-up in Nueva Viscaya up to Palawan.
While the nation enjoyed the bounties of the sacrifices of the IPs with their Ancestral Lands in the form of electricity, the IPs on the other hand, were ditched with only their clothes on their backs. They left to fend for themselves. No free electricity was ever granted unto them, and if there were any, such were just merely crumbs from the pie.
Power Generation and Transmission then were centered to the Government, while the distribution of the same were lodged to electric cooperatives.
Fast tract to 2001, the infamous Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) was enacted into law. It created the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) and was tasked to privatize NPC’s assets thru an auction. Around 19 HEPPs acquired by the government under NPC nationwide were placed for bidding. Among them were the Ambuclao and Binga Hydroelectric Power Mega Dams. As a result, a private corporation won the public bidding and acceded in the rehabilitation for both mega dams. From then on, private corporations assumed the functions of power generation and transmission while power distribution was lodged to electric cooperatives. .
Needless to state, the IPs of Itogon and Bokod, despite their sacrifices for national development, were treated as mere spectators as they helplessly witnessed their contributions being transferred to a private corporation. Even more, no free electricity was enjoyed nor granted to them. Till this day, IPs of Itogon and Bokod still pay for their electricity thru BENECO as the electric distributor. Worse, neither the mega dams does not supply the residents of Itogon and Bokod with the needed electricity nor do they supply BENECO the same to be distributed for the IPs of Benguet.
The electricity business and IP resources as currency
It had to be said, whoever told you that electricity will be free as the price of a favorable FPIC is your own robber, swindler and enemy. Advent the EPIRA law, corporations are directed to trade their generated electricity to a centralized spot market dubbed as the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) governed by a private entity - Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC). For better elucidation for the IPs of Benguet, WESM is akin or best illustrated as the “vegetable trading-post” where most of the generated electricity are sold to traders/middlemen for re-selling. Simply put, it is the centralized market where electric cooperatives and corporations buy electricity to be distributed to residential houses and business establishments. From this set-up alone, it can be surmised that free electricity in exchange for the favorable consent of the IP host communities is an anomaly.
Unless, the IP community have managed to negotiate such terms in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and the same was conformed to by the energy corporation. Quite ideal but still a far stretch from reality considering the capitalist nature of energy corporations. Lest we start convincing corporations to start hating money.
Inside a capitalist empire of energy corporations, the IPs renewable energy resources like water and geothermal found within the Ancestral Domains, is the empire’s currency. Energy corporations after securing the Hydro Service Contracts (HSC) and once gaining exclusivity over renewable energy resources from the Department of Energy (DOE), sometimes appropriate the same thru sale to other energy corporations. And as icing on the cake, sellers acting as middlemen, may throw in the FPIC of the IPs and Certification Precondition.
Apart from the EPIRA law, there are other policies enacted serving the business characteristic of the renewable energy industry of the Philippines. Like for example, the Executive Order 30 S 2017 which created a committee that grants certification to energy corporations as “energy projects of national significance” which entitled them with the privilege of “presumption prior approvals”. Said certification serves as a hall-pass ticket for energy corporations to enter the IPs’ Ancestral Domains.
Let’s not forget Republic Act No. 11234 otherwise known as “An Act Establishing the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop for the Purpose of Streamlining the Permitting Process of Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Projects” or EVOSS. A law that prescribed 105 days for the completion of the IPs’ FPIC, and that non-compliance to the same would yield “deem approval” of the proposed HEPP.
Glaringly, it is seen that the battleground for the renewable energy resources is not fought between IPs and corporations at the ground level but between and among energy corporations at the top level. By the time that project reaches the IPs for the mandatory conduct of FPIC, deals were already sealed. Fortunately, with an empowered IP community, some deals are foiled which may lead to rejection. These instances however are few and far in between considering the misplaced notion that acts of rejection may be construed as anti-development or subversive.
Only if the IPs are free from reprisals or prejudices of being branded as anti-development, that they can genuinely dispose of their consent.
Fairly, we can’t blame the IPs if they reject hydropower corporations wooing them through the FPIC process. The experiences of IPs in Itogon and Bokod are glaring tell-tale signs of what awaits their Ancestral Domains and lands. To tag them as “anti-development or progress” is unfair, for they have already sacrificed much for national interest. The fact that IPs are expressing their rejection within the bounds of law rather than resorting to revenge over their ancestral lands and resources that were once grabbed from them is a clear staple of their civilized action despite the intolerable injustices inflicted unto them.
This myth has created a dichotomy within the once united and undivided IP community. It created two feuding groups - the “pros” and the “antis”. This polarization of the IP Communities are commonly exhibited during the conduct of the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes for Hydroelectric Power Projects (HEPPs). Habitually, pushing the IP communities to deviate from their centuries-old customary decision-making process from a once collective and communal consensus into divisive decision pitting the majority versus the minority via the foreign concept of election process.
The spirit of genuine FPIC of IPs demands not only correct information but also substantial and useful facts. And through FPIC, the IPs must be equipped with the knowledge on how the nation’s electric power industry work before they enter into consensus-building and decision-making.
The genealogy of the nation’s thrust in the electric industry was a rapid evolution; from once a form of basic service duly disposed by government for the enjoyment of the populace, towards an object of commodity susceptible for commerce profited by the selected few. This evolution is clearly seen through past experiences of the Ibaloy IPs of Itogon and Bokod.
The sacrifices of IPs for nation’s development
In the 1950’s, just right after the World War II, the Philippine Government, through the National Power Corporation (NPC), acquired the private properties of IPs dwelling in both Itogon and Bokod. Said acquisition of properties, by operation of imminent domain, paved way for the construction of Ambuclao and Binga dams.
The IPs, mostly the Ibaloy, were forced surrender their homes, burial grounds, farm and pasture lands to the Philippine Government to give way for national development. IPs in the Bokod and Itogon paid the ultimate sacrifice and were boxed-out from their Ancestral Lands wherein most of them ended-up in Nueva Viscaya up to Palawan.
While the nation enjoyed the bounties of the sacrifices of the IPs with their Ancestral Lands in the form of electricity, the IPs on the other hand, were ditched with only their clothes on their backs. They left to fend for themselves. No free electricity was ever granted unto them, and if there were any, such were just merely crumbs from the pie.
Power Generation and Transmission then were centered to the Government, while the distribution of the same were lodged to electric cooperatives.
Fast tract to 2001, the infamous Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) was enacted into law. It created the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) and was tasked to privatize NPC’s assets thru an auction. Around 19 HEPPs acquired by the government under NPC nationwide were placed for bidding. Among them were the Ambuclao and Binga Hydroelectric Power Mega Dams. As a result, a private corporation won the public bidding and acceded in the rehabilitation for both mega dams. From then on, private corporations assumed the functions of power generation and transmission while power distribution was lodged to electric cooperatives. .
Needless to state, the IPs of Itogon and Bokod, despite their sacrifices for national development, were treated as mere spectators as they helplessly witnessed their contributions being transferred to a private corporation. Even more, no free electricity was enjoyed nor granted to them. Till this day, IPs of Itogon and Bokod still pay for their electricity thru BENECO as the electric distributor. Worse, neither the mega dams does not supply the residents of Itogon and Bokod with the needed electricity nor do they supply BENECO the same to be distributed for the IPs of Benguet.
The electricity business and IP resources as currency
It had to be said, whoever told you that electricity will be free as the price of a favorable FPIC is your own robber, swindler and enemy. Advent the EPIRA law, corporations are directed to trade their generated electricity to a centralized spot market dubbed as the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) governed by a private entity - Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC). For better elucidation for the IPs of Benguet, WESM is akin or best illustrated as the “vegetable trading-post” where most of the generated electricity are sold to traders/middlemen for re-selling. Simply put, it is the centralized market where electric cooperatives and corporations buy electricity to be distributed to residential houses and business establishments. From this set-up alone, it can be surmised that free electricity in exchange for the favorable consent of the IP host communities is an anomaly.
Unless, the IP community have managed to negotiate such terms in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and the same was conformed to by the energy corporation. Quite ideal but still a far stretch from reality considering the capitalist nature of energy corporations. Lest we start convincing corporations to start hating money.
Inside a capitalist empire of energy corporations, the IPs renewable energy resources like water and geothermal found within the Ancestral Domains, is the empire’s currency. Energy corporations after securing the Hydro Service Contracts (HSC) and once gaining exclusivity over renewable energy resources from the Department of Energy (DOE), sometimes appropriate the same thru sale to other energy corporations. And as icing on the cake, sellers acting as middlemen, may throw in the FPIC of the IPs and Certification Precondition.
Apart from the EPIRA law, there are other policies enacted serving the business characteristic of the renewable energy industry of the Philippines. Like for example, the Executive Order 30 S 2017 which created a committee that grants certification to energy corporations as “energy projects of national significance” which entitled them with the privilege of “presumption prior approvals”. Said certification serves as a hall-pass ticket for energy corporations to enter the IPs’ Ancestral Domains.
Let’s not forget Republic Act No. 11234 otherwise known as “An Act Establishing the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop for the Purpose of Streamlining the Permitting Process of Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Projects” or EVOSS. A law that prescribed 105 days for the completion of the IPs’ FPIC, and that non-compliance to the same would yield “deem approval” of the proposed HEPP.
Glaringly, it is seen that the battleground for the renewable energy resources is not fought between IPs and corporations at the ground level but between and among energy corporations at the top level. By the time that project reaches the IPs for the mandatory conduct of FPIC, deals were already sealed. Fortunately, with an empowered IP community, some deals are foiled which may lead to rejection. These instances however are few and far in between considering the misplaced notion that acts of rejection may be construed as anti-development or subversive.
Only if the IPs are free from reprisals or prejudices of being branded as anti-development, that they can genuinely dispose of their consent.
Fairly, we can’t blame the IPs if they reject hydropower corporations wooing them through the FPIC process. The experiences of IPs in Itogon and Bokod are glaring tell-tale signs of what awaits their Ancestral Domains and lands. To tag them as “anti-development or progress” is unfair, for they have already sacrificed much for national interest. The fact that IPs are expressing their rejection within the bounds of law rather than resorting to revenge over their ancestral lands and resources that were once grabbed from them is a clear staple of their civilized action despite the intolerable injustices inflicted unto them.
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