‘End Mindanao power crisis’

Manila Standard Today
By Maricel Cruz  March 04, 2014 at 12:01am

The Independent Minority Bloc in the House of Representatives on Monday urged the Aquino administration to come out with the true state of the power situation in Mindanao and propose long term efforts to address the problem. 
The Bloc’s leader, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, quoted media saying the blackout was due to a power trip in a facility somewhere in Lanao. 
“But experts we have consulted are one in pointing out that if it’s only Lanao, why was the whole of Mindanao affected?” Romualdez asked. 
Just last week, President Aquino invited foreign investors to do business in Mindanao, Romualdez said, but if there is no clear-cut assurance of a stable power supply there, we could not expect any immediate favorable response. Romualdez said billions of pesos are expected to be lost from the power problem. 
“We in the Bloc are wondering why this administration can’t find a viable and lasting solution when this is not new to us,” the Bloc’s leader said. 
 Since last year, the power crisis in Mindanao has been public knowledge, Romualdez said. 
“But apart from a handful of ‘one-time’ remedies, we have yet to hear of a continuous project or effort for sustainable power supply in the region. 
“In fact, we don’t hear anything about the Mindanao power crisis unless something happens like the blackout. But if it’s about opponents of the Aquino Administration, there is always something new in media, no matter how superficial it is,” Romualdez pointed out. 
“We find this grossly unfair. We assure our people that we in the Bloc will do whatever we can to help ease the power burdens of our brothers and sisters in Mindanao,” he added. 
Certain areas in Mindanao still experience rotating blackouts during the peak hours of 6-9 p.m. The rotating blackouts have exacted their toll on business establishments in Kidapawan City whose operations were being disrupted by outages lasting for hours. 
Power outages in Zamboanga del Sur have meanwhile stretched from two hours to four hours as two units of a coal-fired power plant in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental went offline. 
DOE said in a statement on Friday that the power plant trippings began in the Agus 1 Hydroelectric Powerplant in Marawi City. 
Former party-list representative Teddy Casiño earlier called on Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla to look for another job in light of his failure to address the recurring power crisis that has been plaguing Mindanao for the last five years.  source