Senators rejected Tuesday a proposal of Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to grant President Arroyo with emergency powers to deal with the power crisis in the country, particularly Mindanao, saying the answer are rains to fill the dams for hydroelectric power.

“What emergency powers? To ask for rains? About 80 percent of Mindanao’s electric power comes from hydroelectric. This means Lanao Lake and Agus hydroelectric need rains,’’ Sen. Manuel ‘’Mar’’ Roxas II, Liberal Party (LP) president, said.

Roxas said emergency powers could not induce the rains to come and rescue Mindanao, which is now experiencing long brownouts.

The LP vice presidential candidate took the Arroyo administration to task for being short-sighted in its planning, adding that Reyes’s proposal is not only foolish but also not well-thought out.

“What’s the solution? None in the short-term which is power barges using up costly fossil fuel whose cost is very prohibitive. The solution lies in the medium- and long-term, which are coal-fired power plants, but such plants take seven years to put up,’’ he said.

“Between now and five years from now, the only thing the government could do are stop-gap measures,’’ he added.

But Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri favored the granting by Congress of limited emergency powers to President Arroyo to resolve the power crisis now affecting Mindanao.

Zubiri said the emergency powers should be limited to resolving the power crisis in Mindanao only, and not the whole country.

A native of Bukidnon in central Mindanao, Zubiri said residents in his province are up in arms against the current rotating brownouts in Bukidnon and other parts of Mindanao which last up to six hours daily.

Earlier, Sen. Rodolfo G. Biazon said that what the government could do for now are “band aid’’ solutions as the gestation period for the establishment a power plant takes years.

Senator Edgardo J. Angara said that despite fears of widespread power shortage because of the El Nino phenomenon, there is no reason for Congress to grant President Arroyo emergency powers to deal with the issue.

“There are already sufficient laws to respond to the crisis and the President has existing powers to harness all resources and take all measures to cope with this temporary crisis,’’ he said.

“Unless the situation poses imminent danger to the nation, it will be difficult to convene (Congress to) a special session (to grant the President emergency powers) because it’s already campaign season and it will be hard to get solons to come back to Manila and attend session,’’ Angara said.

In last week’s public hearing by the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), Sen. Gregorio Honasan said nothing was gathered “to warrant a conclusion for or against granting President Arroyo or local government units emergency powers to address the power crisis.’’

Reyes failed to attend the House of Representatives energy committee hearing last February 18 chaired by Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey’’ Arroyo and the JCPC hearing last Feb. 22 co-chaired by Honasan and Arroyo on the power crisis issue.

Honasan said the commission’s hearing could have produced enough data to appreciate the power crisis had Reyes attended it.