03:16 AM May 11, 2017
CITY OF SAN JOSE DEL MONTE—Informal
settlers have put up houses under power transmission lines and towers in 16
towns in Bulacan province, rendering the Luzon grid vulnerable to outages, the
National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said here.
The NGCP began conducting an
inventory of people living beneath the transmission towers, in light of the
April 19 fire that razed shanties in Muntinlupa City that caused a transmission
tower to collapse.
Security risks
Roel Tobias, chief of the NGCP North
Luzon transmission line unit, said communities had sprouted near power
transmission facilities in the towns of San Rafael, Bustos, Sta. Maria, Pandi,
Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto, Plaridel, Pulilan, Calumpit, Bulakan and
Norzagaray and the cities of San Jose del Monte, Meycauayan and Malolos.
Ronaldo Santiago, head of the NGCP
District 7 North Luzon unit, said they cited the security risks when they asked
settlers to leave but they were ignored.
There are 172 NGCP towers in Luzon
which have been rendered vulnerable to disasters and fire and other accidents
due to the communities living near these structures, he said.
The NGCP, which oversees all
transmission lines in the country, intends to put up fences within a 40-meter
buffer zone around these
towers.
towers.
230,000 volts
Tobias said smoke rising from these
houses could also cause transmission lines to break down and cut off the flow
of electricity through the Luzon grid.
The towers also pose a threat to
these communities since each facility transmits 230,000 volts of electricity.
“Houses stocked with car batteries
or chemicals are also highly combustible and pose a threat to the communities,”
he said.
On May 5, NGCP circulated pamphlets
and signboards detailing safety requirements for people living beneath or near
these towers.
It also distributed 3,000 notebooks
and bags carrying the same safety messages for school children. —CARMELA
REYES-ESTROPE
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