Marcos: No government takeover in solving power woes

WASHINGTON – The government will take part in addressing power outages in Negros and Panay, but will not resort to a takeover to solve the problem, President Marcos said on Sunday.

Marcos said the power outages are caused by problems in the distribution system, not in the supply of electricity.

“Negros and Panay islands are having problems. The irony is Negros actually has a surplus of power supply. The reason why there are outages is because of the distribution system... in high-tension wires. That’s what we will have to look into,” Marcos said.

He said the government would step in once the people tasked to solve the problem fail to do so.

“No, I won’t take over anything. We’ll augment. That’s how it is... on the distribution side. Because that’s where the problem lies,” Marcos said.

“What we were thinking about Negros was how do we get the surplus power out of the island into the rest of the Visayas, because they experience a net loss, a net undersupply. But suddenly, this comes up and it turns out it’s because of the distribution system, not the power supply,” he added.

The island-provinces of Guimaras, Negros and Panay experienced a series of power outages last week.

Marcos said the government is trying to manage water and power consumption. He said the power outage is a consequence of the warm weather.

The government has been doing remedial measures in Mindoro and Marinduque, which also experienced power interruptions.

Earlier, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the government had “swiftly” acted on the power crisis in Occidental Mindoro with the operation of at least three power stations providing 24-hour electricity service in the entire province.

The PCO said the National Electrification Administration and the Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. have agreed to run the latter’s three power stations to address the province’s power supply woes.

System disturbance

Meanwhile, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has blamed “system disturbance” for the rotational power interruptions and voltage fluctuations in Western Visayas.

The NGCP has been asked to explain the three-day voltage fluctuations and unannounced interruptions that occurred in the past several days.

Michella Viscera, NGCP regional communications and public information officer in Western Visayas, announced yesterday that the grid has “restored all loads on Negros Island.”

“With the synchronization of generators to the Visayas grid, power stability in the grid has now improved,” Viscera said.

She clarified that the NGCP is not blaming the Bacolod-based Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) for the outages in Guimaras, Negros and Panay.

There is a proposal for a joint venture agreement between MORE Power and Ceneco.

Twenty labor groups under the umbrella organization of General Alliance of Workers’ Associations in Negros Occidental yesterday expressed support for the proposal.

Bacolod Mayor Albee Benitez is “seeking action and accountability from all concerned agencies” over the widespread power outages that hit the city in the past several days.

The Electric Cooperatives Association of Region VI Inc. has raised concern over the grid disturbance in Panay and Guimaras, which caused frequent power outages in its service areas.

Ceneco acting general manager Arnel Lapore said the power outages have caused anxiety to consumers, business groups and local government units. – Gilbert Bayoran