Third State of the Nation Address of President Aquino III

                The third State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III lasted 1 hour and 39 minutes. It was his longest SONA so far. But the 8,890-word speech never made reference to the perennial problem of consumers-the ever rising costs of electricity, petroleum, water and other basic goods and services. In fact, the issue of high prices and what his administration plans to do to address it has never been a topic in Aquino’s annual SONA.

                   The non-mention of the problem of high prices was made more conspicuous by the almost simultaneous increases in electricity rates, water rates and oil prices just days before the SONA. The Manila Electrics Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest power distributor, hiked its distribution charge by 29.1 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and it’s generation charge by 32 centavos , private water concessionaries Manila Water Co. and Maynilad Services Inc. increased the rates by 39 centavos and 89 centavos per cubic meter , respectively. Oil companies, meanwhile have increase the pump price of unleaded gasoline by 4.35 per liter and diesel by 3.10 after three straight weeks of price hikes this month, including the latest round hours after the SONA.

                   Costs have been unjustly increasing since long ago due to programs initiated by Aquino’s predecessors, namely the deregulation of the oil industry in 1996-1998 and the privatization of the Metropolitian Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) in 1997 under former President Fidel Ramos and the privatization the National Power Corp.