ILOILO City – “Enough is enough. Dapat talaga tanggalan na ng prangkisa itong NGCP ng sa ganun ay hindi na makapang-perwisyo.”
In the Senate’s energy committee inquiry yesterday on last week’s power blackout in Western Visayas, Sen. Raffy Tulfo pressed for the revocation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ (NGCP) franchise.
The NGCP, a private corporation, is tasked with operating, maintaining, and developing the Philippines’ state-owned power grid.
Tulfo, the energy committee chairperson, expressed frustration over NGCP’s repeated failures, highlighting substantial financial losses in Region 6 due to power outages.
He urged fellow senators to support his call, emphasizing the need to prevent NGCP from causing further inconvenience and economic damage.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, vice chairperson of the committee on energy, proposed imposing penalties on the NGCP that correspond to the economic losses experienced in the affected regions.
His proposal was in response to Atty. Monalisa Dimalanta, chairperson of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), stating that the maximum penalty ERC could impose on NGCP for the blackout was P50 million, a sum considered inadequate compared to the billions in economic losses.
Iloilo province estimated it losses to have reached P3.7 billion while Iloilo City, P2 billion.
Tulfo also criticized the ERC and the National Transmission Corporation (TRANSCO) for their leniency toward NGCP’s failures. He stressed the need for these organizations to be more assertive in holding NGCP accountable.
During the hearing, NGCP representatives insisted that the grid’s condition was stable and normal after the tripping of the Panay Energy Development Corporation’s (PEDC) Unit 1 power generating machinery.
However, Senator Tulfo disagreed, citing the Grid Code of the Philippines and arguing that NGCP should have taken manual corrective actions immediately after this tripping incident.
The tripping had a domino effect; other power generators in Panay Island tripped, too, resulting to a prolonged blackout.
“Alam ninyo na mayroong ginagawang scheduled maintenance sa PEDC Unit 3. (Then) Nag-trip ang (remaining units)… You should have done something given that situation,” said Tulfo.
Iloilo’s Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., Guimaras’ Gov. JC Rahman Nava and Iloilo City’s Mayor Jerry Treñas demanded accountability, restitution for economic losses, and preventive measures.
“How many more provinces will lose by the billions dahil dito sa kapalpakan ng NGCP?” said Tulfo.
Addressing the ERC and TRANSCO, he said, “Mahiya naman kayo kay Governor Defensor, Governor Nava at Mayor Treñas na nanggagalaiti na. Gumamit naman kayo ng stronger term para i-denounce ang NGCP,” point out the position of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself on this matter.
Friday last week, the President pledged to resolve the power crisis in Panay Island.
“Accountability lies with the NGCP. They are tasked with grid stability. Stability involves proactive responses to breakdowns and unexpected events – a duty that NGCP unfortunately has not fulfilled adequately,” lamented Marcos.
Defensor said the provincial government is taking legal recourse “to vindicate the rights of our people and so that they can be compensated for the damage done, and more importantly to exerpt the strongest pressure so that the blackout will not happen again.”
Other senators present at the inquiry were Ronald dela Rosa, Risa Honteviros, Francis Escudero, and Francis Tolentino./PN