Energy officials on Wednesday assured lawmakers that there will be adequate power supply in the country on May 9 general elections while the Commission on Elections assured the public of a ‘no brownouts’ election day. Comelec’s Jerome Matas said the vote counting machines are equipped with batteries that run up to 14 hours.
At a hearing conducted by the House committee on energy chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsada said that power outages next month is unlikely, nor forced outages that might cut off the power transmission.
“I would say that we are confident, there would be no more forced outages. We are confident we can have a sufficient supply for the elections. Of course, everybody should pray that things go well,” Monsada told the panel.
Umali said the hearing, which he described as “consultative meeting,” was intended for Congress, in cooperation with agencies of government concerned, to ensure the conduct of clean, credible and honest elections on May 9 as well as to rule out speculations that the elections may be cheated in situations of power outages.
“This is important, to keep everyone on board, to keep the public well-informed, that the government is on top of the situation. We will have less of these ‘chismis’ [controversies] that [happen] every election time,” Umali said.
Monsada also assured the public that there will be no failure of elections because of insufficient power supply.
She said the power generators have been in place in case of a power shortage during election week.
Monsada stressed that the Energy department, through a Power Task Force Election, has been set up to ensure an adequate and reliable electric power supply before, during and after the May 9 elections.
“I assure with the help of everybody, the energy family, the Task Force, [in case of a power shortage, the target is there would be no] failure of elections because of power deficiency,” Monsada said at the sidelines of the consultative meeting.
National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, represented by deputy assistant chief Santiago Dimaliwat, corroborated the Monsada’s statement.
But Dimaliwat said the water reserve for Mindanao is thin this month as power plants are saving up its water resources to use on May 9.
“We are operating below. Medyo tinitipid nila lang tubig [They are saving up water] in time for the elections. That is reflected in the reserve profile of Mindanao,” told Umali’s panel.
NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza stressed the reserve outlook in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao is enough on the day of elections. “At least 2,200 megawatts [MW] reserve for Luzon, 190 MW reserve in Visayas and 373 MW reserve in Mindanao.”