Anakpawis warns: emergency powers dangerous in the hands of a power hungry president

PRESS RELEASE | March 12, 2010 |   Davao City – Anakpawis issued a caution to Mindanaoans in light of the declaration which has put Mindanao under a state of calamity saying the people should be on guard for the political maneuvering of the power-hungry Arroyo clique.

“This is a dangerous scheme aimed to create a condition of panic and fear among the people in order to justify the granting of emergency powers to Mrs. Arroyo in time for the May elections,” said Franchie Buhayan, Anakpawis Davao City Spokesperson.

Anakpawis lambasted Dept. of Energy Chief Angelo Reyes and Dept. of National Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales whom they call as masterminds behind the “plot.”

“This plot wreaks with gun powder given the record of these two fascist think-tanks of GMA. Gearing for a looming election failure, emergency powers in the hands of a power-hungry president pose threats to the peoples' democratic rights as well as to the essence of the elections which seeks to end Arroyo's 9 - year rule,” said Buhayan.

Meanwhile, Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglungsod who attended the house committee on energy hearing here yesterday said the declaration falls short in providing a long term solution, if the energy crisis is indeed real.

The Agus and Pulangi IV dams, currently generating power for Mindanao should suffice the peoples' need for power. Alas, the government has failed to rehabilitate these rapidly deteriorating dams," said Maglungsod.

He added, “On the bigger picture, the overly dramatized power crisis is meant to condition the minds of the people for the Arroyo administration's privatization schemes. To date more than 1000 water districts are up for privatization while major dams such as the Pulangi V in Bukidnon is targeted for construction by 2011.”

PANALIPDAN Southern Mindanao, an environmental rights group, has initially warned about the massive privatization of water resources and water districts according to the Philippine Energy Plan of the Arroyo government.

PANALIPDAN's community consultations in the area showed that the 300 megawatt Pulangi V dam construction is widely contested as the project threatens to displace thousands of residents and denude thousands of hectares of farm and ancestral lands. The project also threatens to worsen the siltation in parts of the Pulangi otherwise known as the Rio Grande De Mindanao. #