NEWS RELEASE
April 14, 2000

The privatization of the National Power Corporation (Napocor) is shaping up to be the next flashpoint for protests against the Estrada Administration, and a unifying issue for groups calling for Pres. Estrada's ouster.

This was the prediction of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, a national alliance of sectoral groups which has been actively campaigning for Pres. Estrada's ouster from office.

"Once again, the Estrada Administration has provided the people with live ammunition for more criticism. It has exposed itself again as the agent for the sellout of the national patrimony," said Bayan Secretary General Teodoro A. Casiņo.

The Bayan leader said that the campaign to have the Napocor privatization scheme junked will be as widespread as the campaign to have the oil industry deregulation law scrapped. "But this time, the people are in an advantegous position because the law has not been passed yet," said he added.

He also pointed out that Bayan and other anti-Estrada groups are critical of the role played by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other creditors in making Napocor's privatization a "non-negotiable conditionality" for the release of $1.38 billion worth of loans to the country.

"The Estrada government has acted time and again as the stooge of the IMF, WB and Paris Club even as their harsh conditionalities are being questioned and discarded by other developing countries. This is one more reason to oppose Estrada," said Casiņo.

"The Estrada Administration had better rethink its blind obedience to the IMF. The people are hurting from their conditionalities," he added.

Casiņo said the IMF is trying to facilitate the entry of foreign monopolies in the country's energy sector. "This is a classic case of the IMF helping the multinational corporations of the United States and other imperialist states." ###