MANILA, Philippines?Senatorial candidate Joey de Venecia warned the administration Friday against exploiting the power crisis and the declaration of a state of calamity in Mindanao to justify the acquisition of high-priced stop-gap power-generating equipment.

The Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) candidate, in a press statement, also blamed the impending regime of high power rates in Mindanao on the government?s ?inexcusable failure to put in the required base load capacity.?

De Venecia said the Arroyo administration should have an accelerated but transparent bidding process to invite the widest selection of foreign and local suppliers for the needed emergency generating sets, instead of resorting to negotiated contracts with a choice few companies relying on their closeness to Palace officials.

?Otherwise, favored suppliers of high capacity gensets short-listed by Palace insiders will just pay up the SOPs (illegal commissions) they will need to shell out for cornering the emergency power assets deals,? the opposition senatorial candidate said.

Ignoring warnings

De Venecia said Mindanaoans are ?angry? that the Arroyo administration ?had foreseen the problem but ignored it.?

De Venecia cited the warning of Guido Delgado, president of the National Power Corporation from 1994 to 1998, of emerging power problems in Mindanao at the time President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took power.

?So it is incorrect for the outgoing administration to blame the El Niño phenomenon for the power emergency,? he said.

?Even her top Mindanao adviser, Secretary Jesus Dureza, has said hydroelectric generation plants accounted for only 19 percent of Mindanao?s power mix in 2009,? De Venecia said.

De Venecia recalled that as recently as Feb. 25, Dureza told Mindanao?s power industry stakeholders that the situation was ?far from being a crisis level.?

The opposition senatorial bet said ?this government really failed to put in place the required power capacity. There was no El Niño episode last year. It is impossible for the administration not to have foreseen the situation.?

De Venecia lamented that ?Filipinos will now be paying for the incompetence of the outgoing administration which will now hurriedly acquire emergency power assets and impose higher electricity rates in Mindanao.?