BACOLOD City – Power Watch Negros (PWN), a local group of power watch advocates, slammed the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) over the recent blackouts and rotating power outages experienced in Western Visayas.
Wennie Sancho, secretary-general of PWN, said yesterday that the NGCP should have already learned its lesson following the blackout experienced in late April of last year.
The state-tapped power grid operator should have taken the necessary precautions to prevent it from happening again, he added.
According to Sancho, the recent power outages are an “ominous” greeting for the New Year, depriving consumers of their quality of life.
“What is the plan of NGCP to ensure power security in Western Visayas? What are measures taken by NGCP to prevent future outages? NGCP should explain this to the consumers,” Sancho pointed out.
He believes that the Congress should revoke the NGCP’s franchise after failing to fulfill its mandate.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental governor Eugenio Jose Lacson assured that the province has a sufficient supply of power.
To prevent the Panay Island incident from happening in Negros Occidental, Lacson said the provincial government, in cooperation with the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City, will create an energy roadmap as well as host an Energy Summit.
Bacolod City mayor Alfredo Benitez also supports Lacson’s plan, adding that Negros currently produces a total of 700 megawatts of power. The island’s peak use is only 440 megawatts.
“Learning from what happened in Panay, we have to make sure that it will not happen in Negros Occidental. The roadmap is a strategy on how to have power security in our province,” Lacson pointed out. (Watchmen Daily Journal)/PN
