The Philippine Online Chronicles

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Malacanang will have to wait until June before a special session of Congress may be convened. House Speaker Prospero Nograles ‘ruled out calling for a special session as most congressmen may not be able to attend,’ Inquirer online reported.

Palace deputy spokesperson Ricardo Saludo said the President is willing to wait and insisted that insisted that Mrs. Arroyo is not seeking special powers to deal with the power supply crisis other than those mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), according to GMA News.

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Senate leadership is ready to call for a special session but cannot do so because its members are in the ‘thick of campaigning.’

Among the 24 Senators, four are on presidential campaign – Sen. Benigno Aquino III, Sen. Manny Villar, Sen. Jamby Madrigal and Sen. Richard Gordon. Sen. Loren Legarda is running for vice president while others are Senate re-electionists.

Most members of the Lower House are also preparing for the start of local campaign on March 26. Meanwhile, some Mindanao solons disagreed that a special could not be called saying legislators must ‘set aside politics to address the power crisis.’

Palace officials said they are studying other options on how to address the power crisis.

Cause-oriented groups on the other hand dismissed the granting of special powers to Arroyo and insisted that declaring EPIRA a failure would be the first step to solve the power problem.

In an ABS CBN report, groups said emergency powers will only benefit the private firms engaged in the energy industry. EPIRA mandated the privatization of power-related assets of the state-owned National Power Corporation (NPC).

By invoking Section 71 or the Power Crisis Provision of EPIRA, the President, upon the approval of Congress can approve short-term supply contracts and purchase or lease power generators.

Saludo said wew modular generator sets can provide additional 160 megawatts of power for Mindanao but these will not be enough to end the rotating brownouts in the region.