MANILA, Philippines - Power consumers should just ''bite the bullet'' of the high cost of electricity rather than suffer a national power crisis, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said.
Enrile said the consuming public has no other option but to bear the cost of higher fuel whose prices are dictated by the international market.
''Everybody should bite the bullet... People cannot do anything but pay the high price of electricity,'' Enrile said in a recent interview.
The Senate leader also said it is already ''too late'' for people to start blaming proponents of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act or the EPIRA law which had failed to bring down the cost of power in the country.
''Wala nang magagawa ang tao kundi magbayad ng mahal na presyo ng kuryente. Iyong mga promoter (ng EPIRA) wala na sila sa kapangyarihan. Hindi mo na sila sisisihin. It is too late,'' (People can't do anything but pay the high price of electricity. The promoters of the EPIRA law are now out of power. They cannot be blamed anymore),'' Enrile said.
''Kung pagsisisi at sisihan, passé na iyon. Wala nang bisa, kailangan-pikit mata harapin natin ang problema at wala nang daldalan at magtrabaho tayo (Blaming and pointing the blame is passé. It's useless, we should blindly face the problem and stop and start working on it),'' he added.
And since the Mindanao power crisis is threatening to creep in to Visayas and Luzon, the government should start working on a long-term solution to plug the power shortage, he said.
Enrile said one viable option is for the government to tap nuclear energy sources as other countries have adopted safe nuclear technology to safeguard not only their people but also the environment.
''Nuclear power is the way to go...there are safe technologies but we don't want it because we are afraid to die. But we all die. We just have to take the chance because nothing in life is without risk,'' he said.
