ADDRESSING ELECTRICITY PROBLEMS. Mindanao Development Authority Secretary Emmanuel Piñol (far right) delivers a speech during an online meeting with Mindanao electric cooperative heads in Kidapawan City on Thursday (Sept. 17, 2020). Beside him are National Electrification Administration Administrator Edgardo R. Masongsong (2nd right); and two congressmen representing the power sector, Engr. Godofredo Guya of the Rural Electric Consumers and Beneficiaries of Development and Advancement, and Ako Padayon Party-list Rep. Adriano Ebcas. (Photo courtesy of Cotelco-Matalam)
KIDAPAWAN CITY – Top officials of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and electric cooperatives (ECs) in the island region convened here Thursday to discuss and seek solutions to current power issues.
MinDA chair Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who presided the meeting, said the gathering aims to tackle the problems confronting the electric cooperatives in delivering efficient power supply and prevent any untoward power crisis that could affect the island's development.
Joining the MinDA chairperson were National Electrification Administration (NEA) head Edgardo Masongsong, Central Mindanao Electric Cooperative Association president Godofredo B. Homez, three power-block party-list lawmakers in Congress, and Corazon Cullantes, who heads the Association of Mindanao Electric Cooperative (AMRECO).
“We are gathered here not to blame, but formulate solution to the current problems the ECs are facing in order to prevent power shortage and outages on the island like what happened in the past years”, Piñol said.
Discussions focused on the root cause of frequent brownouts, power reliability, low service connection of 35 percent in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and outstanding financial capabilities of some ailing electric cooperatives.
Masongsong said the effort of electric cooperatives to achieve total electrification in far-flung areas requires an efficient system.
He also commended the MinDA for initiating the discussion, which was aligned with NEA’s direction to bring rural development through electrification.
“One hundred two of 121 ECs in the country have competent financial and institutional performance and now focuses more on improving its technical capability to deliver reliable electricity in every household,” he said.
Based on NEA’s data, low electric connections--particularly in BARMM--is connected to a particular locality's demographic condition, peace and order, compliance of building code, political interventions, and road right-of-way issues.
NEA said the problems encountered in generation and transmission are the major causes of brownouts in Mindanao, based on the data provided by the ECs in Mindanao from January–July 2020.
“It is always the ECs, being distribution utilities, which are being blamed for power interruptions in their respective localities,” Cullantes said during the meeting.
After the discussion, MinDA proposed to form the Local Power Development Advisory Group (LPDAG), an interim cluster with the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee (MPMC), the DENR, Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the local government units, as members.
Piñol said LPDAG intends to conduct further discussions on power issues in every region through the local electric cooperatives.
“Electricity is the backbone that drives our investors and economy thus, we must be prepared in crafting a long-term solution to realize the goal of a prosperous Mindanao” Piñol pointed out. (PNA)
