CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Unidentified men bombed two towers of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines in Marawi City Thursday evening, isolating the electric supply generated from the Agus 1 and 2 hydro plants to the Mindanao grid.
Beth Ladaga, NGCP regional communications officer in Mindanao, said towers 19 and 20 were toppled after an improvised bomb out of an 81-mm mortar explosive went off.
The twin blasts caused a deficiency of 150 megawatts, causing an outage in several areas of the Mindanao grid, specifically Marawi City and key cities in the Lanao provinces.
“Our technicians will start restoration work as soon as the area is secured by the army and police,” Ladaga said.
Lieutenant Virgilio Dorotan, a company commander from the Army 65th Infantry Battalion, said the soldiers and policemen only managed to enter and secure the area of the blast site in Barangay Patani in Marawi City at around 5 a.m. Friday.
“We found the two towers toppled on their side but we have already secured the area for the NGCP repairmen to begin their work,” Dorotan said.
He said they still have no idea who exploded the bombs; Army specialists are still in the blast site to check the evidence left.
The village of Patani is located one kilometer away from the Marawi-Iligan highway.
The bombing came two days after the NGCP released a press statement complaining that an “uncooperative landowner” in Marawi City demanded money and refused entry to their repairmen.
On Oct. 10, unidentified suspects blasted two towers in Barangay Batulawan and Barangay Dalengaoen in Pikit, North Cotabato.
Investigators suspect that the Alkhobar terror unit of the Abu Sayyaf is connected to the blasts.