THE SCENE at the Senate was akin to that of having a person on death row extolled for his life accomplishments a day before he is scheduled to die. On Dec. 15, the Congressional Oversight Committee held a roll call of all the agencies involved in ensuring the Y2K readiness of the country and their contingency plans for judgment day--the rollover period from 1999 to 2000. The Oversight Committee was chaired by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. and Rep. Enrique Garcia Jr.

The country, as declared by National Security Council Secretary Alexander Aguirre, is Y2K-ready. All the action centers of the mission critical sectors will be operational 24-hours a day, and that means monitoring of Y2K situation beginning Dec. 28, 1999 up to Jan. 3, 2000. Phone lines of agencies involved with the Y2K will be linked.

The action center will be located at the NSC compound to be manned by the task force staff and representatives of the Y2K Commission and one representative each from different sectors.

Aguirre said that five power generating plants of the National Power Corp. were tested and simulated: the Manila Electric Co., Enron in Batangas and in Subic, the Bauang Power Plant and the Tongonan Geothermal Plant.

Corporations like Petron, Filipinas Shell and Caltex were validated and tested. Five air transport agencies--Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Aboitiz Air Philippines and the Air Transportation Office--were also validated and tested. The ATO, added Aguirre, is responsible for navigational facilities and control.

"Three government agencies that are computer-dependent--Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Treasury and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and different private banks were under the supervision of the BSP," he said. Aguirre stressed that Bancnet, particularly, was simulated and tested.

Gerry Doroja, who represented Science and Technology Secretary and Y2K Chair Filemon Uriarte Jr., said that after consultations with the Office of the Primary Responsibility of each of the seven mission-critical sectors, "we found out that we are almost indeed ready for the Y2K."

The energy sector--including the power and oil industries--was declared Y2K-ready by the committee.

The energy sector and all the energy organizations are activating what they call their "nerve centers" or the action centers in preparation for the rollover. There will be a 24-hour alert status in all the plants and full alert on Dec. 31 up to the first day of year 2000.

A 40-day level of inventory of crude and refined products will be available. This 40-day inventory should be enough to be able to provide for the requirements not only of the rollover during Dec. 31 but for all the other critical Y2K days.

Energy officials said the public need not buy or stock up fuel more than what is normally required of them. They added that the oil sector is ready to dispatch any of the requirements coming from the refineries and coming from the different depots.

Congressman Garcia added that the oil sector has the flexibility to import refined fuel products.

"As far as our storage facilities is concerned, I think we can store up to more than 90 days' supply considering that the United States naval base storage facilities that's being leased by the Coast Guard has been added to our storage facilities," he said.

And for the power supply, he declared that there is enough capacity to provide requirements during the critical days.

Cut off in supplies is one of the scenarios being prepared for in the contingency plan. Oil companies have also identified alternative sources which they will be activating from their mother companies should the requirement come up.

The health sector was reported to be 90-percent Y2K ready. This was declared by Dr. Antonio Lopez, undersecretary and chair of the Y2K committee of the Department of Health. Most government hospitals also reportedly have antiquated equipment, he said.

"This could have been a blessing in disguise because of the Y2K problem," he said. Lopez added, however, that government hospitals like the National Kidney Transplant Institute have sophisticated equipment. Secondary and primary hospitals in the far-flung and isolated areas, he added, may have equipment like ultrasound that is not Y2K-compliant. He added, however, that these are not life-saving equipment.

"Whether Y2K-compliant or noyt, (these equipment) would not be a threat or immediate threat to life and limb," he said.

Lopez added that his agency has done a lot of simulation activities in different regions. Fifteen out of the 16 regions have submitted their contingency plans for the Y2K. Some members of his task force are still in the different regions gathering the Y2K status of some hospitals.

For his part, Assistant Secretary Raymundo Padua of the Department of Interior and Local Government reported that the DILG national office has set up its action center closely linked with the National Disaster Coordinating Council and the national center of the Y2K Commission. The Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Jail and the Bureau of Fire, he reported, are 100-percent complaint on mission critical equipment.

Padua added, however, that the requirements that need to be improved are additional rescue equipment in case of emergencies. Currently, the DILG declared only 1,200 fire trucks nationwide out of the 4,500 municipalities.

"We are short of about 1,500 fire trucks," he said.

Padua added that the DILG is in close coordination with the volunteer fire brigades through radio networks. On the other hand, the Department of National Defense, represented by Major George Avila, declared that the DND has a total of 549 contingency plans. The DND, he said, has finished validating its system and its response capabilities. Those unremediated items were already included in its contingency plans.

Avila also made an accounting of the computers at the DND.

"I would count embedded systems, weapons systems and all. As of count, we have assessed 6,400 items that are affected by the Y2K, and 4,411 are non-compliant. Of these 4,411, only 20 percent have been remediated, the rest are being planned for remediation," he said.

The Department of Trade and Industry is responsible for the adequate supply and stable prices of 15 product groups. DTI assistant secretary Zeny Maglaya declared that inventories are increased beyond the normal level by at least one month.

"Just to ensure that we will have more than enough to tide us over when we face Jan.1 or year 2000," she said.

She mentioned the prepositioning of stocks not only in Metro Manila but in the regions "to avoid any eventuality should there be disruption in communication or transportation." Maglaya added that this is to assure the public that there will be enough goods in the market.

In case of panic buying, she said that stocks or supplies in the marketplace will augmented. The manufacturers and the retailers, she said, are working closely to avoid hoarding.

"This is to make sure that the goods will not go to the wrong hands because there could be speculators in the trade," she said.

Maglaya added that linkage in networking and monitoring of goods were also being done by the DTI to avoid artificial shortage by hoarding.

The Department of Finance--which also handles the insurance and the social security industries--also reported that its sector is Y2K ready. The sector's Y2K rehearsals included the shutting off of electricity to find out if the agencies can still service the public despite power outages.

"In the case of our rehearsals with the life insurance companies, there was one instance when we ordered the disconnection of their connection with their mainframe based in the United States. Using the local network, they were still able to service the public, although there was delay," said Delfin Espejo, director of DoF, MIS office. The transactions, he said, took about 2.5 minutes when they could regularly have been performed in 20 seconds.

The GSIS and the SSS, Espejo declared, were able to show that they are prepared for the Y2K. The SSS has a backup data center at the Aurora Disaster Recovery Center. GSIS, which has a mainframe in Arroceros, has a backup data center at the Financial Center.