In an interview,
Evardone said that Almendras report during the recent budget hearing
in Congress drew several disbelief among them, lawmakers from Region
8.
According to him, he
cautioned Almendras that he might had been fed with wrong information
because in his province, he said, not all barangays have the
electricity which other Congressmen have likewise seconded.
“Of the 597 barangays
in Eastern Samar alone, I know there are still 85 which are not yet
energized,” Evardone echoed his report. “That is why it is not correct
for Sec. Almendras to claim that 100% of the barangays in Eastern
Visayas had been energized.
He said he also argued
that far-flung barangays with installed Solar panels could not be
considered energized because usually, there is only one bulb found at
the barangay plaza and three others in the streets and none inside
the houses of the barangays.
The Congressman said
that the DOE report resulted in Department of Budget and Management’s
(DBM) scrapping some P2B budget from their proposal, because
logically, he said, where else would the money be spent for, vis-à-vis
fully energizing the country, when DOE have already reported a 100%
performance.
Evardone said, he also
urged the DOE officials to not only focus on the sufficiency of power
supply but also on lowering the power bills.
“Reducing the power
rates would not only alleviate the financial burden of our people but
also we can attract investors to the country”, Evardone stressed.
He added that these
investors look at long-term projection of their businesses, and if the
country’s power supply would remain unstable, investors will be
discouraged to put up money for business in the country.
Evardone, who served
two terms as Eastern Samar governor said he is looking closely at the
ongoing budget hearings in Congress, and seeing what the Departments
could help to his District.
A friend privy to the
Committee hearings in Congress texted this writer that Evardone and
Sen. Chiz Escudero were all supportive to the budget presented by
Press Secretary Herminio Coloma. Despite the tedious questioning and
grilling, Sec. Coloma remained unruffled and exuded intelligence and
grace in defense to the Press/PIA budget and Radyo ng Bayan’s.
(PIA-Eastern Samar)
