Watch Out for Another ‘People Power’

By Herbert Vego

BETWEEN today and Independence Day on June 12, let us brace ourselves for nationwide mass actions to protest the alleged intention of the Senate to pass a resolution aimed at dismissing the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

As initiated by Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, it would be “justified” on technical grounds – say, that the impeachment case could not cross over from the present 19^th Congress to the 20^th Congress.

The Akbayan Party-list and Tindig Pilipinas have organized a series of events starting today (June 9) with a march from the Film Center to the Senate.

Thousands of volunteers and members of other organizations, according to Tindig Pilipinas Co-convenor Francis “Kiko” Aquino Dee, have phoned in to join.

The impeachment case could not be set aside by Bato’s “de facto dismissal”. The Constitution in Article 11 calls for the trial to proceed “forthwith” as soon as the House of Representatives transmits its Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.

As already well-discussed by legal luminaries and framers of the 1987 Constitution, the Senate when convened as an impeachment court is a “continuing body” just like the courts that do not lose jurisdiction whenever a retired judge is replaced by another.

The pro-impeachment initiative could snowball into nationwide rallies demanding the Senate to proceed with VP Sara’s trial that could result in her dismissal as Vice President by a vote of two-thirds or 16 of 24 senators.

There appears to be an intentional delay on the part of the Senate to convene.

Senate President Chiz Escudero is in no position to blame the House for that delay because the House of Representatives had transmitted the Articles of Impeachment on the last day of the Senate’s session before recess, which was February 5, 2025, specifically at 4:00 p.m.

Escudero could have tackled the impeachment case before adjourning at 7:00 p.m. but postponed it to June 2, only to postpone it anew to June 11.

And now, he wants us to believe that when the Senate adjourns sine die on June 13, the “rule of majority” of senators of the 20^th Congress would prevail on whether to vote on Bato’s still unsigned resolution when the Senate re-opens in July.

Fortunately, that resolution may never materialize due to strong public clamor for the impeachment trial to proceed.

If Bato and other obvious sympathizers of VP Sara are so sure that they have the required number to acquit her, why are they so afraid to carry on with the trial?

Because a wrong decision on their part may harm their own political future?

The trial is a measure of accountability.  The Filipino people are interested in knowing why she is charged with misuse of public funds, unexplained wealth, allegations of plotting murder against the First Family and Speaker Martin Romualdez, and betrayal of public trust.

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POWER PRICES DECLINING

THE good news from our good friend Roel Z. Castro – president/CEO of MORE Power, Negros Power and Bohol Light – is that higher power supply is pushing decline in power rates.

As far as MORE Power is concerned, its latest rate for power distributed to Iloilo City households is ₱11.1354 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) between May and June, reflecting a ₱0.8990 per kWh decrease. It is the lowest in Western Visayas.

As confirmed by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), the average supply in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rose to 22,218 MW in May, thus outpacing the demand.

The increase in supply resulted in a wider margin of 4,945 MW — up from April’s 4,585 MW — and pulled the system-wide average price down to ₱4.01 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from ₱4.52/ kWh.

As a result, the WESM rates declined by 11.2% month on month in May.

Coal remained the top power generation source on the WESM, accounting for 59.9%, followed by renewable energy (22%) and natural gas (17%).

IEMOP operates the WESM, where energy companies can buy power when their long-term contracted power supply is insufficient for customer needs.

On the generation mix, coal increased its dominance slightly to 59.9% (from 59.8%), while natural gas held steady at 17%. Renewable energy accounted for 22%, while hydro rebounded to 7.7% from 7.3%, breaking a downward trend observed since January. Solar and oil-based sources saw marginal declines.

-oOo-

CARRY ON, RAISA

INCOMING Iloilo Mayor Raisa Treñas Chu, in a chance meeting with the press during the World Environment Day celebration at Iloilo Sunset Boulevard on June 5, 2025, promised to work for the rise in pay of job hires at the Iloilo City Hall by ₱130 per day, on top of their current rates.

Of this amount, ₱30 will be forwarded to PhilHealth to cover their medical insurance in case of emergency.

The wage increase is made possible by the city’s income surplus and improved real property taxes collection.

In addition, permanent city employees will benefit from the implementation of the second tranche of the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) 6 starting August 2025.

Funding for this has been secured under Supplemental Budget No. 1 for the year, approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod last April.

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) coverage for regular employees is also being processed, in coordination with the Resource Employees Association of City Hall (REACH).