Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. has appealed to the Department of Energy and Congress to exercise their police power to address the massive blackout in Panay Island which hampers the economic growth and development of the province of Iloilo.
“We appealed, together with Mayor Jerry Treñas, to exhaust the power of the executive branch to exact accountability from the players in the power sector to avoid similar problems from happening again. This problem will stop the development of Iloilo City, Iloilo Province, and the whole of Region VI. We cannot contribute to the development of the whole country,” Defensor said in a press conference recently.
The governor said they cannot yet quantify the economic losses of the province due to the blackout but he said the provincial government has already come up with a formula to determine its impact on businesses.
“Regulatory bodies should also review the compliance of power utilities on their franchise mandates as well as that of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.”
Defensor said regulatory bodies should also review the compliance of power utilities on their franchise mandates as well as that of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on the five directives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The directives stemmed from similar power outages experienced by the island last April 2023.
The NGCP was directed to inform the power utilities, local government units, stakeholders, DOE, and the Energy Regulatory Commission on the status of the Visayas Grid; to synchronize the protection relay of the distribution, generation, and transmission to protect the system; to fast-track the filing and approval of pending Ancillary Services Procurement Agreement (ASPA) that supports the transmission of power from generators to consumers; to always ensure that the grid is not overwhelmed; and to complete the phase 3 of the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) backbone project.
Defensor also called on congressmen to exercise their police power to improve the energy sector.
Police power, as defined by the governor, is the power to prevent or stop what is harmful to society, including brownouts.
“Maybe there is a need to legislate to improve the power sector.”
“Maybe there is a need to legislate to improve the power sector,” he added.
Defensor further appealed to the power sector to do everything and cooperate to prevent a similar crisis in the future.
He called for an emergency conference with the DOE, ERC, NGCP, Western Visayas governors, Iloilo mayors, and other power stakeholders to address issues and concerns relative to the massive blackout which has been affecting Panay Island and other parts of Region VI since January 2.
