This was the statement of Ethel Natera, information officer of the Visayan Electric Company, adding that the power supply to the 46 stalls at Larsian got overloaded and this caused the intermittent sparks on the electric wiring.
Last Sunday, VECO linemen went to New Larsian to respond to an alarm about successive sparks at the mainline. They eventually disconnected the power after discovering that there was supply overloading in the area.
Since then, VECO did not reconnect the power anymore, causing insinuation from the public that the disconnection of electricity to the province-owned area might have something to do with the rift between the city and the Capitol.
Provincial treasurer Roy Salubre, who has been in-charge of managing the Larsian stalls, was not available for comment on the matter yesterday.
Michelle Resilla, owner of the Original Siomai sa Tisa stall, said that last February 6 when she applied for business permit at the City Hall, the Office of the Building Officer did not sign her papers because it had no clearance from VECO.
Resilla and other stall tenants believed that the power cut-off has no connection to the Capitol-city dispute.
The stall tenants agreed that overloading was the cause of the intermittent sparks through the past few days before Sunday because all stalls have their respective lighting, refrigerator, coolers, electric stove or ovens, and other electrical cooking equipment.
Another stall tenant said, "Na timing lang siguro," adding that VECO had previously advised them to reapply for a power connection if they want to have the power restored.
Ms. Natera clarified however that VECO and the Larsian management had agreed yesterday that the latter would apply for electric permit for additional load then collect from the stall tenants the payment for their respective consumption.
The Larsian area would still be served with one electric meter, as before, but the additional load supply would effectively stop the recurrence of overloading, she said.
Over the past nights since the disconnection, however, the public noticed that each of the Larsian stalls was lighted with one bulb each but the refrigerators and cooking equipment were not used.
When asked about this, VECO said it would investigate to determine if there was illegal tapping to a power connection near the area. It vowed to act immediately on the matter. - Gregg M. Rubio/RAE