Bombed power tower repaired

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A transmission tower of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, which was bombed recently in Aleosan, North Cotabato has been repaired, the NGCP said yesterday.

The repair of tower No. 63, which traverses the Kabacan-Sultan Kudarat 138-kiloVolt line, was completed at around 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Owners of the property where the tower is located allowed workers of the NGCP to enter the area for the repair.

Another NGCP tower – No. 25 in Ramain, Lanao del Norte, which was bombed on Dec. 24 – remains unfixed as the landowners refused entry to workers sent by the power company.

The power supply in Mindanao has been affected by the toppling of tower No. 25, as the grid could not bring power to its distributors and utilities in the south.

The NGCP is awaiting the settlement of a road-right of-way issue between the landowner, the Sambitori family, and government-owned National Transmission Corp. (Transco) before it can repair tower No. 25.

The landowners have been demanding payment from Transco for the use of their property.

The NGCP is appealing to the public, local government, the police and military as well as local community leaders to help secure the towers so power transmission services will remain uninterrupted.