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Bicameral panel set for'Murang Kuryente' measure
By Chamaine A. Tadalan
Reporter
'THE HOUSE of Representatives
and the Senate are set to convene
on Thursday the Bicameral Con-
ference Committee on the pro-
posed Murang Kuryente Act.
Both House Bill No. 8869 and
Senate Bill No. I95O provide for
the use of the government share
from the Malampayafund as sub-
sidy to settle obligations by the
National Power Corp. (NPC).
The Senate version pro-
poses to utilize the whole of
the Malampaya fund, which the
Depatment of Energy said has
a total balance of P22t billion,
as ofSept. 2018; while the House
version proposes to allocate
Pl23 billion until 2023.
"I'm just pushing for P123 bil-
lion because tllr tang hiningi ng
PSAJ-M (Power Sector Assets and
Liabilities Management Corp).
Ang sabi ko namqn I'll leave it to
the next Congress to decide. Lefs
see first how it applies to the Na-
pocor debt," House Energr Com-
)",4q€ * /o /ct "
lro]{DAY, I'lARcH 4,
I
mittee Chair Lord Allan Jay Q.
Velasco ofMarinduque said in an
interview on the sidelines of the
Hugpong ng Pagbabago campaign
in Quezon City, Thursday. (I'm
just pushirg for P123 billion be-
cause thafs what had been sought
by the PSAJ-M. [Power Sector As-
setF an{I<iabilities Management
Corp.l. For me, I'll leave it to the
next Congress to decide. Let's see
first how it applies to the Napocor
debD.
"Definitely, me and Senator
Sherwin (T. Gatchalian) (are)
bent on passing this Murang
2ol9
Kuryente bill, especially with
the increase in prices ng ldhdf
ng commodities natln (of all our
commodities). Definitely, we
need it now, we'll male it a point
that we finish it next week," he
added. Senator Gatchalian, who
sponsored Senate Bill No. f95g
chairs the Senate Committee on
Energy.