Struggle Against the BNPP Bill (HB4631 now HB 6300)

Its been eight months since my last post. Now, am geared up for another blogging spree. I have been too active on the streets these past few months and would be glad to share it with you to encourage participation from you and the civil society.

I am currently engaged on the anti-BNPP Campaign on the faith-based perspective. Since January, the Committee on Energy started their hearings on House Bill 4631 filed by Rep. Mark O. Cojuangco. But my organization, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), came to know about the Bill after it was passed by the Committee on Energy to the Committee on Appropriations in Congress. Of course we were stunned because of the lack of feasibility study and reference to the other studies made in the past, which includes those done during the time of the Marcos regime, before and after, those studies done during the Aquino and Ramos administrations. These studies have reiterated many times that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was riddled with corruption, bribery, fraud and debt, which made it as the most expensive white elephant in the history of the Philippine economy. It even noted 40,000 defects as per the study of 50 nuclear experts.

As usual our calls fell on deaf ears. Rep. Cojuangco is hell-bent on passing this into law. At this time, the BNPP Bill has evolved, now having the consolidated bill or HB 6300 to be discussed on the floor anytime next week before the Congress session closes (June 3 or 6, 2009). Rep. Cojuangco may either pull some strings to push for its discussion even in the wee hours of the morning (midnight express), as what they did before in other bills or the oppositors, us, will be successful in convincing more legislators to withdraw their endorsements from the bill. It is very interesting to say that from the mother bill, HB 4631, we haven't seen the names of some of the co-authors in the new, consolidated bill with the killer amendment, which our champions fought for during the Committee hearings. Out of the 185 signature endorsements, the new bill has only 125 co-authors, 60 names of legislators went missing. Sound interesting. Maybe the People Are Watching You Campaign of both the social movement and the faith-based sector worked wonders not that we are claiming this small victory but who knows.

For more understanding on the issue, please visit http://www.notobnpp.net.

The next post will be the recent actions conducted by the faith-based sector and the social movement in contribution to the anti-BNPP or People Are Watching You Campaign.

Act against the rehabilitation and operation of the BNPP,