Lawmakers on Thursday sought a congressional inquiry into the power outages that sent the entire Panay Island and portions of Negros Island into darkness since Wednesday, and said the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) should be held accountable.
Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo City Julienne Baronda said the blackout warrants scrutiny by the House of Representatives in the exercise of its congressional oversight function to safeguard public welfare.
Baronda recalled that the House through its energy committee had conducted an inquiry in aid of legislation on the April 2023 region-wide power outages in response to Resolution 933.
“House Resolution 933,which we authored along with fellow Ilonggo representatives, has yet to be concluded, and yet this new incident took place, distressing the Ilonggos. It seems that those responsible and accountable have yet to learn their lesson,” Baronda said in a statement Thursday.
“During the committee hearing last August 2023, I strongly pushed for the full implementation of the interconnection of the Luzon and Visayas Grids that would pass through Mindoro as one of the measures to address the power problem on Panay Island,” Baronda added.
In fact, Baronda said she and her fellow Ilonggo legislators spoke with Department of Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin in December to ask her to help speed up the interconnection.
House Deputy Minority leader France Castro said the NGCP should be held accountable for the island-wide black out in Panay as well as some parts of Negros.
Castro, nominee of ACT Teachers party-list group, said residents in Western Visayas still have limited electricity supply on Wednesday as most power plants on Panay Island have not been fully restored yet after multiple failures on Jan. 2.
“As it is though it is not just the power generators’ and NGCP’s fault, the distribution utility, namely MORE Electric and Power Corp. of the Razon group of companies is also responsible for this,” she added.
Castro supported Baronda’s call for a congressional inquiry into the matter.
House Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin also called for an inquiry and said those responsible should be held accountable.
She emphasized the severe impact of the blackout on lives and economic activities in the area, deeming it unacceptable.
Garin stressed the need for urgent solutions to ensure a consistent and reliable electricity supply for everyone.
Areas such as Guimaras Island, Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, and Capiz were among those affected by the power outage, adversely impacting the livelihoods of residents, particularly small business owners.
Garin highlighted the detrimental effects on businesses like eateries and market vendors whose perishable goods suffered due to the sudden power loss.
The NGCP reported that on Jan. 2 that power plants on Panay Island tripped, leading to a significant power outage.
In addition, Garin called upon the Department of Energy (DOE) and the NGCP to promptly address and resolve the power outage.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Thursday also said the massive brownouts should be investigated, and pressed the DOE and NGCP to immediately resolve the problem.
“We will not idly stand by while our fellow Filipinos suffer due to the negligence and lack of urgency in addressing this power crisis,” he said.
As chairperson of the Senate committee on energy, Senator Raffy Tulfo said he will file a resolution to investigate the matter and hold accountable all those behind this “unacceptable” situation.
Zubiri said he is absolutely incensed and dismayed by the persistent power outages plaguing some provinces in Western Visayas, particularly in Iloilo.
“This situation is no longer tolerable, and the Department of Energy and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines must urgently address this issue before irreparable damage is done to our communities,” he also said.
Constant power interruptions, he noted, have widespread effects on communities, extending beyond mere inconvenience. They affect not only businesses, livelihood and the delivery of basic services to the people, but they have dire and far-reaching consequences on the lives of citizens.
He also pointed out that power outages are dangerous in hospitals.
“How about those in an incubator, life-support or those needing dialysis on the day there’s no power?” he said.
Both the DOE and the NGCP need to get to the bottom of the disruptive outages and ensure that power is restored to every household and establishment in Panay Island, Negros Island and Guimaras as soon as possible, he said.
Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Francis Escudero also agreed that a congressional inquiry was needed.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said it hopes the Palm Concepcion Power Corp.’s (PCPC) 135 megawatt coal-fired power plant would come online on Thursday to alleviate the power outages in Panay Island.
ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said initial reports showed that the PCPC plant suffered “equipment breakdown when the plant tripped so they have to wait for the unit to cool down before restarting again.”
She said the repair takes time, depending on the damage, but usually this takes about two to three days.
The NGCP said in its 3 p.m. advisory that 212.1MW is being served by Panay power plants, augmented by 29.2MW from sources elsewhere in the Visayas, for a total of 241.2MW served loads.
“We reiterate that load restoration will be done conservatively, by matching loads to restored generation, to prevent repeated voltage failure. NGCP is ready to transmit power once it is available,” it said.
NGCP said the grid needs about 300MW to stabilize and is awaiting PCPC to synchronize back to the grid.
Dimalanta, in a separate interview with ANC’s Headstart, reiterated that preliminary data showed that there were power plants that failed and went on unplanned outages that led to the Jan. 2 blackout.
“We’re trying to find out what went wrong, what could have been done, what measures were in place, should’ve been taken and were not taken. We’re still investigating those details,” Dimalanta said.
She said Panay also suffered a massive outage in April, after which the ERC came out with several recommendations.
Dimalanta said NGCP completed almost all of the 10 measures recommended by the investigating committee.
“So if they were really completed and implemented, what else can be put in place? What else can be done to remedy this situation and prevent this from happening again?” Dimalanta said.