Sunday night blackout

It is ironic that the four-day holiday ended with the massive blackout that affected all of Luzon. The good thing was that even criminals did not take advantage of the total darkness to commit crimes and it caused minimal damage to property. Only three fires were reported in Metro Manila and all three were caused by lighted candles that were left unattended.

The word "blackout" was first used in the theatres to mean the turning off of the stage lights in order to indicate the end of the stage performance or of a scene in a play. Then on Sept. 3, 1939, it was used in England to signify the covering of all windows, skylights before dark so that no light could be seen from outside. It was the basic air raid precaution. That is how it was also used in the country when Japanese planes started dropping bombs in American military installations. Today, it is used to describe any power failure at night. The Filipinos adapted the word "brownout" to mean short or partial blackouts.

For both the people who took advantage of the long vacation to get out of town and those who simply stayed home, the long blackout was anticlimactic. The four-day rest period ended in a hassle. But the worse part is that the unexpected blackout came after there were strong rumors of an impending coup. It even had a name "Black October." So many people were alarmed. The NPC assured the public that the power failure was not the work of saboteurs. But it could not definitely give the reason for the blackout. Last Sunday’s power failure was much worse than the Dec. 10, 1999 blackout when 50 tons of jelly fish invaded the cooling system of the 1,000-megawatt Sual plant.

What truly concerns us is the fact that so long as the Napocor cannot definitely pinpoint the cause of last Sunday’s extended blackout, both in length of time and area affected, we have no assurance that it cannot just happen again and again.

National disasters cannot be prevented. How can one stop a typhoon, earthquake or volcanic eruption? But man-made disasters can be controlled. If necessary measures are taken, they can be minimized or totally eliminated.

The NAPOCOR should monitor its daily operations. Is it just a coincidence, for example, that the jelly-fish invasion and last Sunday’s blackout both occurred in Sual plant?

The worst blackouts are mental.