ILOILO City – Mayor Raisa Treñas is summoning power providers and representatives of key sectors to a meeting today as recurring brownouts threaten businesses and essential services across the city amid continuing yellow and red alerts on the Visayas grid.
Treñas said the city government wants concrete and urgent measures to address the power disruptions, warning that repeated outages must not be allowed to become part of everyday life for Ilonggos.
“We are ready to work with everyone concerned, but we need solutions and urgency. This should not become a normal part of the daily lives of our Ilonggos and businesses,” she said.
The meeting will bring together representatives from households, businesses, workers, schools, hospitals and other health facilities, public markets, and other essential services to assess how rotational brownouts are affecting residents, economic activities and critical operations.
“We will meet with the different sectors affected — our households, businesses, workers, schools, hospitals and health facilities, public markets, and other essential services — to hear directly how this is affecting their lives, operations, and services to the public,” Treñas said.
Representatives of MORE Power and other concerned electricity authorities are also expected to be called to the meeting to explain the current power situation and discuss measures that could address the disruptions.
The Visayas grid has been experiencing yellow and red alerts, prompting the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to implement rotational Manual Load Dropping (MLD) when available electricity supply is insufficient to meet demand and maintain grid stability.
Treñas said the meeting should go beyond documenting the effects of the brownouts and instead determine what concrete actions electricity providers, government agencies, businesses and other stakeholders can undertake.
The recurring disruptions could have wider consequences for businesses and essential services, particularly establishments and facilities dependent on an uninterrupted electricity supply.
Treñas also appealed to residents and businesses to conserve electricity, particularly during periods of high demand, while the city government coordinates with power authorities to ease pressure on the grid.
“I am also appealing to our residents to continue conserving electricity, especially during peak demand hours. Our cooperation is important in helping manage the pressure on the power system,” she said.
Monday’s meeting is expected to give the city government a clearer assessment of the effects of the power crisis across different sectors while allowing stakeholders to raise concerns and propose measures to minimize the impact of succeeding interruptions.
The city government will continue coordinating with electricity providers and concerned authorities as it pushes for a more reliable power supply for Iloilo City./PN
