ILOILO City should not wait for the next yellow or red alert before asking how it will keep the lights on.
The recurring power interruptions affecting the city should be treated not merely as an immediate inconvenience requiring emergency meetings, but as a warning that Iloilo needs a long-term energy security strategy. Mayor Raisa Treñas’ decision to convene electricity providers, businesses, hospitals, schools, public markets, workers and other affected sectors is a necessary response. But the more important question is what happens after the meeting.
The city cannot remain trapped in a cycle of power interruption, explanation, conservation appeal, temporary relief — and then another interruption.
Mayor Treñas herself has correctly declared: “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.”
That urgency must now be converted into planning.
Iloilo City is growing. With growth comes greater demand for electricity from households, businesses, hospitals, schools, commercial establishments and other essential services. The very sectors City Hall is calling to this Monday’s meeting illustrate how deeply electricity has become embedded in practically every aspect of urban life.
Yet energy security cannot be addressed only when the Visayas grid enters yellow or red alert. By then, authorities are already managing a shortage rather than preventing one.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines implements rotational Manual Load Dropping when available supply becomes insufficient to meet demand while maintaining grid stability. That may explain why particular interruptions become necessary, but it does not answer the larger policy question confronting Iloilo: How prepared is the city for its future electricity requirements?
That question deserves serious attention now.
City Hall may not control power generation or the national transmission grid, but it is not powerless. It can bring together the institutions that do have responsibilities and capabilities. It can demand reliable information, anticipate the city’s electricity requirements, identify vulnerabilities in essential services, encourage investments that improve resilience, and make energy security part of development planning.
The proposed dialogue with electricity providers and affected sectors should therefore become the beginning of something permanent.
Iloilo needs a coordinated energy security plan involving the city government, power providers, concerned national agencies, businesses and other stakeholders. Such a strategy should examine not only how to respond to outages but how to reduce the city’s vulnerability to them.
Businesses must be part of the conversation because unreliable electricity has economic consequences. A city can build roads, commercial districts and investment zones, but these advantages are weakened if enterprises cannot count on dependable power.
The private sector therefore needs more than assurances after every disruption. It needs confidence that Iloilo is thinking several years ahead.
Consumers also have a role. Treñas is right to appeal for electricity conservation, especially during peak demand hours. Reducing unnecessary consumption can help ease pressure on the power system.
But conservation is a supporting measure, not an energy security policy.
Households cannot be expected to solve structural power shortages by switching off appliances. Businesses cannot indefinitely compensate for an unreliable grid by purchasing generators and fuel. Hospitals cannot simply hope that backup systems will always be enough.
Energy resilience requires preparation before the emergency arrives.
The present disruptions offer Iloilo an opportunity to abandon reactive energy management and embrace long-term planning. The city should use it.
Because the best time to prepare for the next power crisis is not when the grid turns yellow or red.
It is while the lights are still on.
