The Left coalition SANLAKAS conducted a protest rally this morning in front of the main office of the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) in Quezon City. Around one hundred (100) mass activists of SANLAKAS picketed the NAPOCOR to angrily express the general public’s rising opposition to the constant overpricing of power rates by the country’s largest electricity provider and generator.

During their protest action, a team of militant activists surprised the posted security guards when they hurled several used-up light-bulbs at the NAPOCOR seal emblazoned on the front wall of the NAPOCOR office.  The smashing of the light-bulbs by SANLAKAS, which momentarily roused the guards at the front gate, was done as a symbolically dramatic act to show the still-growing anger of the basic masses against the state power corporation’s anti-poor corporate practices.

This militant mass action, which was led by Rasti Delizo, the SANLAKAS Spokesperson, is in support of the Freedom from Debt Coalition’s (FDC) ongoing national mass campaign against power-rate(s) hikes and to repeal the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). This campaign, which began early this month, will culminate in a ‘National Day of Protest’ on October 11, 2011 through simultaneous coordinated ‘Power-off’ actions (a temporary shutdown of electricity in pre-selected areas and communities) nationwide from 7:30-8p.m. on this date.

According to Delizo, “SANLAKAS totally opposes the highly-selfish profiteering schemes of NAPOCOR aimed at making quick greedy profits by passing on its very high power rates and past debts (incurred since the Marcos dictatorship) to the innocent consuming public.  This power sector-based arrangement is legally protected by the privatization-oriented EPIRA and has long ago been a neoliberal weapon of mass devastation to permanently ensure the economic-social destruction of the majority of our poor masses who depend on a daily power supply to live decent and humane lives.”

The SANLAKAS Spokesperson further said, “With a national economic dilemma looming upon our country’s horizon due to the worsening global capitalist crisis, our country’s poor majority cannot afford to just stand idly by. We must urgently unite against the Philippine State’s pro-neoliberal laws, such as the EPIRA, which privatize the essential utilities in favor of a few elite families. This fundamentally and dangerously sacrifices the common good by ensuring private profits over the people’s general welfare. We must now fight NAPOCOR’s constant greed and militantly resist NAPOCOR’s anti-poor and elitist economic agenda. And we can do this together by junking the EPIRA and replacing it with a new power sector framework that should basically ensure that our country’s power setup will eventually be placed under the control of the electricity-consuming public.”

The SANLAKAS protest rally was highlighted by a brief program with speakers representing various local mass organizations, including the Metro Manila Vendors’ Alliance (MMVA). The activist group peacefully ended its rally by self-dispersing after the media covered the light-bulb smashing action.

SANLAKAS PRESS RELEASE
30 September 2011
Mr. RASTI DELIZO (SANLAKAS Spokesperson)
Cellphone No.:  0999-8092461