Aquino: No looming blackout in Manila

Friday, March 23, 2012


MANILA (Updated) -- President Benigno Aquino III allayed fears Friday of a looming blackout in Metro Manila, particularly in the country's business districts.


Aquino, in a meeting with some of his officials, including Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, Mindanao Development Authority chief Lualhati Antonino and presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, said the Luzon grid currently has a surplus of at least 1,500 megawatts (MW).


"There's no looming (blackout). It (National Grid Corporation of the Philippines) has averted a potential problem," Aquino said during the meeting, wherein the officials discussed the power blackout in Mindanao.


Almendras, for his part, said a problem occurred in one of the NGCP facilities in Luzon, but it was addressed immediately.


He assured that the government has contingencies in place to prevent any blackout in Metro Manila.


The government also acknowledged that there is a huge power supply shortage in Mindanao and this could be experienced until 2013.


"The real problem (is) in Mindanao. Mindanao needs additional generating capacity," Almendras said.


He said, though, that at least two private power barges, which have the capacity of 120 megawatts, have been deployed in southern Philippines to augment the hydropower plants in the region.


Three more government power barges with 110-MW capacity will be dispatched by next month.


Almendras said residents in Mindanao have to pay more for their electricity consumption as they will source out their power from diesel-run power barges.


The power shortage in Mindanao could be alleviated by 2014 when a 300-MW coal-fired plant becomes operational, he said.


In a related development, a neophyte congressman from Davao City said the current power shortages in many parts of Mindanao could be a perfect example of economic sabotage and a crime against the people.


"Mindanao could not be lacking in power sources like its hydro power sources and other power alternatives. I hope it is not human greed for the power of money that is causing all our woes," Davao City Representative Karlo Nograles said.


The Mindanao lawmaker strongly endorsed a congressional inquiry into the continuing power blackout in many parts of Mindanao and other areas in the Visayas.


"We have to pinpoint the real culprit. There must be an explanation to all these unnecessary sufferings we are experiencing," he said.


According to Nograles, the Mindanao power problem could not have been experienced without possible collusion, noting the under-capacity power output of hydro-electric power plants.


"If it is found out that the power problem is but an artificial result of sabotage, this is a crime which deserves the harshest of penalties," he said, adding that Congress must also look into the loopholes of the law dealing with economic sabotage and related statutes that must be amended.


House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. admitted knowing that there was "some controversy" on the power crisis in Mindanao.


The Department of Energy (DOE) has denied that the government is in collusion with firms in Mindanao to increase power prices by creating an artificial energy shortage.


"There are some resolutions (filed in the House) that will look into it," Belmonte told reporters when asked if he believes the claim of DOE. (SDR/Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)