Power lines of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative in Bacolod City. (PNA Bacolod file photo)
BACOLOD CITY – Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson welcomed on Tuesday the national government intervention to help address the power supply woes in Negros and Panay Islands.
“It’s good that the President (Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.) did say that, that the national government is willing to enter into the picture if they (distributors) cannot solve that,” he told reporters.
On the way to the United States on Sunday, Marcos said there is a need to look into the problem in the distribution system that resulted in power interruptions in Western Visayas late last week as he noted the irony of what transpired, considering that Negros has an excess power supply.
The Chief Executive said the national government would augment the power capacity of the distribution network in the islands.
For his part, Lacson urged those involved in the delivery of electricity to ensure a power supply for the Negrenses.
“I’m calling on all concerned to restore our power supply here in the island. Whether it’s the NGCP (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) or the power utilities. What’s important is that, as the President said, it’s so ironic that we have surplus power but this still is happening,” the governor said.
He noted though that Negros Occidental is in much better position than Iloilo province, which experienced a three-day power interruption along with other provinces in Panay and also Guimaras islands starting April 27.
“Iloilo really suffered. In our case, we do have (power outages), but it’s more stable. If it’s true that we can help Panay, then let’s do that,” Lacson said.
Meanwhile, the Electric Cooperatives Association of Region VI Inc. wrote a letter to the NGCP Visayas Operations and Maintenance on April 29, seeking an explanation on the “system disturbance” and over-voltage that affected the entire Western Visayas.
Demanding transparency and disclosure from the NGCP, the electric cooperatives reiterated that the issue is “already the second within this year” after a similar system disturbance also took place last Feb. 20.
Senator Raffy Tulfo had also sought an in-depth investigation into the islands’ rotational brownouts after noting that the NGCP and the Central Negros Electric Cooperative passed the blame on each other.
The probe aims to help prevent the outages from happening again, not only in Panay and Negros, but also in other parts of the country, the senator said. (PNA)
