By Shan Kenshin Ecaldre
“Replacing cooperatives with private corporations shifts control of vital infrastructure from local stakeholders to profit-driven shareholders.”
LAGUNA — Progressive groups in Panay are opposing the proposed expansion of MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) into seven additional municipalities in Iloilo province. They stressed that it would further entrench private monopoly control over a basic public service and undermine community ownership of electricity.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)–Panay said that granting MORE Power a wider franchise poses “serious risks to public interest and consumer rights,” as it consolidates control of the province’s power distribution under billionaire Enrique Razon.
Electricity, the group stressed, is a basic public necessity that should remain under strong state responsibility and public oversight. “If the expansion is approved, Iloilo will effectively fall under a single-entity private monopoly,” Bayan–Panay said in a statement.
MORE Power currently operates in Iloilo City, Passi City, and 15 out of the province’s 42 municipalities. Adding seven more towns will give the company majority control over electricity distribution in Iloilo. Bayan–Panay warned this could also set a dangerous precedent for the takeover of electric cooperatives in other Panay provinces.
The group observed the expansion of Razon-linked power firms in the Visayas, citing Bohol Light in Tagbilaran City and Negros Power, which displaced Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) through a joint venture that now covers Bacolod City, three component cities, and two municipalities in Negros Occidental.
While supporters of the expansion claimed that privatization would lower electricity rates, consumer advocates said that such reductions are often temporary. “Once monopoly control is secured, rates can easily be reversed and raised indefinitely, as experienced by Metro Manila residents under Meralco,” Bayan-Panay said.
They said that electric cooperatives such as the Iloilo Electric Cooperative (ILECO) represent community ownership and serve as mechanisms for local accountability when service issues arise. “Replacing cooperatives with private corporations shifts control of vital infrastructure from local stakeholders to profit-driven shareholders.”
“The trajectory of private monopoly includes higher costs, selective service based on profitability, and the permanent loss of community control,” Bayan–Panay said as it urged Congress to reject MORE Power’s proposed franchise expansion.
Marcos–Ramon Ang collusion?
The opposition to MORE Power’s expansion comes amid broader protests against what activists described as the deepening collusion between the Marcos administration and powerful oligarchs in government-brokered infrastructure projects.
On Friday, various organizations staged a protest at the San Miguel Corporation (SMC) headquarters in Mandaluyong City as part of the “Black Friday Protests” leading up to the planned anti-corruption mobilizations on November 30. The protest was led by the SUKI Network together with Migrante Philippines and Migrante International, Para Commuters Network, Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON), Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY), Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas
(PAMALAKAYA), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Makabayan Coalition, Kalikasan–People’s Network for the Environment (PNE), Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), Sandigan, Concerned Seafarers, and the network of migrants against corruption MALETA.
Protesters denounced government–SMC projects as turning public infrastructure into “milking cows” for big business, accusing the administration of facilitating corporate capture for the benefit of tycoon Ramon Ang and other oligarchs. They said that the privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) may be considered a transfer of a strategic public asset into private monopoly control at great public expense.
The groups also listed what they called the growing “trail of harm” linked to SMC projects, including rising fuel prices from Petron operations, added burdens on overseas Filipino workers and commuters due to NAIA privatization, worsening floods associated with the Skyway and Bulacan Airport projects, the displacement of fisherfolk for the Aerotropolis project, the destruction of mangroves for the New Manila International Airport (NMIA), threatened demolitions under the Pasig River Expressway (PAREX), and moves to monopolize flood control projects.
“These projects reflect a development model where public needs are subordinated to private gain,” the groups said. “Communities bear the brunt through higher costs, environmental destruction, and displacement.”
SUKI spokesperson Amihan Mabalay said that oligarchs Ramon Ang, Enrique Razon, and Manuel Villar amassed enormous wealth from privatized public services such as water, electricity, telecommunications, and airports. Their combined net worth, she said, grew to an estimated P1.5 trillion ($25.4 billion) from 2022 to 2025.
“This shows how the government and big business use the bureaucracy not only for outright corruption but also to systematically enrich the super-wealthy through state-facilitated money-making projects,” Mabalay said.
The groups called for full accountability, an end to oligarchic control over public utilities, and the suspension of what they described as destructive and anti-people mega-projects.
“The management of essential services like electricity must be determined by the community, not dictated by corporate profits,” Bayan-Panay said. (DAA)
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