By Brando Cortez

SAN MANUEL, PANGASINAN — Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said here that the massive brownouts the country experienced in the 1990’s would not have happened if only the administrations after that of the late President Ferdinand Marcos operated the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

“We could have avoided these massive brownouts and the expensive contracts with independent power producers,” said Enrile, who visited the San Roque Power Corp. here on Friday.

Enrile said that he supports Pangasinan fifth district Rep. Mark Cojuangco’s HB04631, also known as “Bataan Nuclear Power Plant Re-Commissioning Act of 2008,” which has been co-authored by at least 122 congressmen.

“The people paid for the construction of the mothballed BNPP and up to now not a single kilowatt-hour of electricity has been produced,” said Enrile.

Enrile and his party were welcomed by officers of the San Roque Multipurpose Project (SRMP) composed of Ryukichi Kawaguchi, president and chief executive officer and Naoto Tago, executive vice president and Tommy Valdez, vice president-corporate social responsibility.

Kawaguchi lamented that they were never consulted by the government regarding its talks with the Chinese government regarding the published financing scheme being negotiated for the irrigation component of the SRMP.

Those present included Pangasinan sixth district Rep. Conrado M. Estrella III, ABONO Party-list Rep. Robert Raymund M. Estrella Jr., Vice Governor Marlyn Primicias-Agabas and Gina De Venecia, wife of fourth district Rep. Jose De Venecia Jr.

Several local chief executives were also here to welcome Enrile. These included Sison Mayor Kimi Cojuangco, Laoac Mayor Tony Abalos, Pozorrubio Mayor Emma Chan, Villasis Mayor Nonato Abrenica, Rosales Mayors Ric Revita, Balungao Mayor Lito Peralta, Natividad Mayor Alejandrea Supnet, San Manuel Mayor Salvador Perez, San Nicolas Mayor Leoncio Saldivar III, San Quintin Mayor Clark Tiu, Burgos Mayor Domingo Doctor and Mapandan Mayor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim.

“It is a folly not to operate the BNPP because there were allegations that people from the Marcos administration benefited from the negotiations in the construction,” Enrile said. “The country’s industries could have enjoyed the cheaper power generated by the BNPP.”

ABONO Party-list chair Rosendo O. So said that he is now more encouraged to push for the reopening of the BNPP with Enrile’s support.

“We need sources of power cheaper than coal fired power plants to be able to improve the operating costs of our industries,” said Enrile

Earlier in the week, Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Oscar Cruz called for the creation of a group of experts in nuclear energy and in the operation of nuclear power plant to study the claim that the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant can still be recommissioned, its location is safe and its operations would benefit the people.