Liberal Party vice presidential bet Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II Sunday said he sees no reason for Congress to hold a special session to deal with the power crisis in Mindanao.

“Special session? For what? To ask for rain? To hire power barge?” Roxas told Manila Bulletin during an interview after the LP rally in Tondo.

Roxas said hiring a power barge is too expensive since it will be using diesel.

“This is good only during emergencies. We should have discussed a long-term solution earlier,” Roxas said.

“I have been a member of the Cabinet for six years and (solutions for a possible power crisis) were never discussed. And now it would take three years for us to construct a power plant that is too long,” Roxas added.

Still, Roxas and his running mate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said they will attend the special session if that would be the call.

“We have no choice but to attend because this is our work. But we have to look into the possibility of it being used for other purposes other than the power crisis. We should make sure that the solutions that will be presented will indeed solve the problem,” Aquino said.

The President said earlier that she had adopted Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes’ recommendation to declare a power crisis in Mindanao, but has yet to issue a proclamation.

This declaration would allow the government to invoke Section 71 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) to enable the state power generator, the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to buy or lease modular generator sets to augment Mindanao’s power supply.