Military beefs up patrols to secure power lines

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga- The military has mobilized its troopers to patrol areas traversed by some 11,000 kilometers of high tension wires which distribute power to the remotest barangays nationwide following the attempt of the New People’s Army (NPA) to sabotage the Calaca power plant in Batangas last Saturday.

"The military has assured us of increased patrols to protect the high tension wires which carry electricity from various power plants in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao," Carlito Claudio, assistant vice president of the National Transmission Corp. (NTC).

The NTC is a state-owned firm created in March last year to handle the management and operations of main power lines which used to be under the National Power Corp. (NPC).

The 11,000-km. power lines are charged with about 500,000 volts of electricity and are suspended on steel skeletal towers located even in the most remote areas to bring electricity to electric cooperatives and other private power distributors, said Benjamin Sarasa of the NTC office in San Manuel, Pangasinan.

Sarasa said both the military and the police have beefed up their patrols in Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija which are covered by the NTC office based in San Manuel.

Claudio said that increased security patrols have also been provided by the military in other parts of the country to ensure that transmission points are not sabotaged. He explained that in Luzon, the 500,000-volt cables are channeled to minor transmission points which absorb 230,000 volts for immediate distribution to local areas in Luzon, 130,000 volts to minor points in the Visayas, and 80,000 volts to minor points in Mindanao.

"The need for security for the power lines is also important in Mindanao arising from threats from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)," Claudio said.