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THE CITY council this week has passed on second reading an appropriation ordinance authorizing the release of P 38.4-million representing the royalties received by Ormoc from power operators of geothermal plants in its mountains, for “direct subsidies” to more than 30,000 power consumers in the city.
The measure was introduced by councilor Rafael Omega Jr. as the council’s committee chair on finance. During the discussion, Omega admitted he does not know whether the appropriation would run counter to a provision of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 which states under Section 31 that the royalties “shall be used to directly subsidize the electricity consumption of end users in Renewable Energy host communities/LGU’s whose monthly consumptions do not exceed 100 kilowatt-hours”.
The Renewable Energy Act of 2008 is co-authored by former congressman Eufrocino Codilla Sr. when he was still in Congress.
If released, 31,635 electric consumers for 2010 will receive P 625.00 each and 32,020 consumers will receive P 645.00 each or a total of P 1,270.00 per consumer in the next few weeks.
City treasurer Angelo “Boy” Roman, in a telephone interview, said the sum represents 100% of the total subsidy releases for 2010 and 2011, including interest income.
However, Roman was vague on what happens to the remaining millions of annual subsidies in the city coffers, that were withheld in 2009 because the council then did not want to be accused of “electioneering” considering that the next year, 2010, was election year. He said this was a matter that should be taken up by the electric subsidy council, which has yet to be reconstituted by Mayor Eric Codilla after he won his third term.
Roman also said it is the first time he heard of the provision of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, and promised to study it, whether it would make the appropriation release based on a local ordinance inappropriate, if not illegal.
The appropriation ordinance, he said, has yet to be passed on third and final reading on the coming Thursday, February 16, and there was still time to study it.
As of present, the city has P 62,875,439.62 in royalty funds that can be given out as direct subsidies. P 51.7-million, Roman said, is in a current account while P 11.7-million is in a savings account.
Of the amount, Roman said, P 3.6-million represented the subsidies from previous years that consumers did not get or collect. According to his books, there is a P 394,000 posted as “due to others”, which he said only the accounting section would know.
The P 62.8-million, less the still uncollected subsidies and the “due to others”, still has a balance of P 58.8-million. If the P 38.4-million is taken from the P 58.8-million, this leaves the city some P 20.4-million in royalty funds that remain undistributed to electric consumers.
Around P 19-million of this money is the remaining half of the royalty releases for the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2007, the whole year of 2008 and portion of 2009 that was received by Ormoc later than usual because the funds were now required to be remitted to the national treasury first, before being released to the host LGU’s.
To recall, the money was released by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself in a ceremony at the Tacloban airport in July 2009, with full media coverage, when she came to the region to inaugurate the EVRAA then.
On the latter part of 2009, Atty. Mariano Corro, city councilor then and current legislative consultant of the council here, recommended the release of only one half of the funds the city got during that time, claiming they don’t want to be accused of “electioneering”.
The May 2010 elections was just around the corner, he said during session, and they also did not want Ormocanons to be surprised and confused that they will receive more than P1,000 each if the funds are fully released because residents have been used to receiving an average of P 600 a year. He said the release of a bigger amount might be misconstrued, both by their political opposition and the people themselves.
After the 2009 release of around P 600 each per consumer, it is only now that the residents will be getting another subsidy, more than two years later.
Roman said he only requested for the City Mayor to release the funds that the city got from 2010 and 2011, including interests earned. They are basing the apportionment of the funds on an old city ordinance that was passed adopting the recommendation of the city subsidy council to equally divide the annual receipts among the number of power consumers in the city, based on annual data from the Leyeco V.
As for the balance from previous releases, he said it should be the electricity subsidy council that should decide its fate. Roman was vague as to why he cannot recommend its release just like for the 2010 and 2011 royalties, and cannot answer why the mayor has not yet constituted the council. By Lalaine M. Jimenea with a report from Maricar Samson
