The Malacanang Palace official said PNoy believes Meralco and other industry players should have prepared for the power rate increase so that unjustifiable price hikes wouldn't be passed on to the people. Malacanang yesterday slammed the threat made by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to start implementing brownouts soon if the Supreme Court (SC) doesn't lift it's Temporary Restraning Order (TRO) on the power rate hike. PCOO Sec. Coloma Jr. said while Meralco isn't government owned the nature of it's business is imbued with public interest. Therefore Meralco should keep public interest in mind. The Malacanang officials also said the government will not allow Meralco to enforce any brownouts if its reason is unjustifiable. "Unjustifiable price hikes will not be tolerated. The government will not allow it if there is no justifiable cause because it's duty of the government to ensure the welfare of it's citizens. What's important here is the continuity of electricity services because it's needed by the households, business and trade.It's needed to ensure the efficiency among the people. It's not only the government which has an accountability to it's citizens. Even businesses that are imbued with public interest also have public accountability. They don't need to threaten. In a democracy, justification is needed and not intimidation." Sec. Coloma Jr. said. Meanwhile, the Malacanang officials said that they don't meddle with the investigation of the tripartite committee on the power rate hike.
