IT’S TWO days after Christmas and more than a week after “I Am Iloilo City” was hit hard by Typhoon Odette (Rai, internationally) and things have more or less gone back to “normal”. I mean the “new normal” as we’re still in the midst of a pandemic. We just survived a super typhoon but we’re still fighting the pandemic as the virus COVID-19 is still very much around.
The parols are intact so we were able to celebrate Christmas but following the medical protocols i.e. social distancing (almost), wearing facemask, washing hands or disinfecting with alcohol (although most of us preferred drinking alcoholic beverages) and most importantly, getting vaccinated.
The vaccination thing is no problem as the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” are almost or 100% vaccinated and they’re now doing boosters and vaccinating the minors, which mean that COVID-19 has been contained in Iloilo City.
So whether you like him or not, emotional sometimes volatile leadership included, Mayor Jerry Treñas got us through the pandemic and kept the virus at the gates and we are grateful.
I never imagined in my lifetime I would be in the midst of a pandemic in survival mode and getting through this madness.
Likewise in my more than six decades of existence this is the first time I have experienced and lived through probably the strongest typhoon yet.
Let’s talk about the aftermath of that typhoon and express gratitude to the people who performed above and beyond the call of duty that somehow made the day after almost normal.
Late that night of Dec. 16, Typhoon Odette, with winds of up to 165 kph and gusts of up to 205 kph, decided to pay “I Am Iloilo City” a visit. By the early hours of Friday, Dec. 17, it intensified and started uprooting trees, blowing down electrical posts and downing power lines. MORE Power the city’s power distribution utility had to voluntarily cut power.
With that scenario I was expecting, power including other utilities, to be out for at least a week.
I still remember a couple of decades ago when “I Am Iloilo City” was also badly hit by a strong typhoon although nowhere as strong as this one and power lines and electric post were also down, power was out for almost two weeks and it took almost a month before power was fully restored.
So I was expecting the worst; here we go again, a mad rush to buy generators, everyone scrambling where to charge their mobile phones, and people camping out in the malls to cool off on top of a COVID-19 pandemic. Can anything get worse than that?
Lo and behold, that did not happen. I was monitoring the situation as soon as the winds died down and Typhoon Odette was no longer in the vicinity. MORE Power’s emergency repair teams were able to energize some areas not so badly hit by midmorning.
We got power back in our area by 2 p.m. and by 6 p.m. MORE Power was able to energized 97% of “I Am Iloilo City” in less than 24 hours and not two weeks. Not bad at all, in fact very good. The following day all MORE Power feeders were energized and while all the repairs and restorations were happening they were providing regular updates via social media.
It would be proper if we let Mayor Jerry Treñas speak for us and this is what he said on his social media account:
“I am very proud of MORE Power here in Iloilo City. It has almost immediately restored power to the franchise area. Insofar as Iloilo City is concerned, the performance of MORE Power as a distribution utility company is totally unprecedented. I am very grateful on behalf of the great people of Iloilo City. Madamo gid nga salamat!”
But wait there’s more (pun intended) from Mayor Treñas;
“MORE Power worked beyond the call of duty to ensure continuous electric power.”
Meanwhile, other cities i.e. Cebu, Surigao, Siargao and Bacolod still have to have a full restoration of power and other utilities.
Let me put it this way as a resident of “I Am Iloilo City” and has lived through the onslaught of Typhoon Odette: what Nong Moroy a.k.a. MORE Power has done in restoring power within 24 hours is a very far cry from the incompetence of erstwhile power provider, Don Pecoy.
Good job indeed, Nong Moroy. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com)/PN
