MANILA, Philippines -- Mindanao lawmakers assured President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that all of the congressmen representing southern Philippines, except perhaps Speaker Prospero Nograles from Davao City, will attend a special session of Congress to address the worsening power shortage on the island.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said that Mindanao lawmakers have decided to cross party lines to a make a unified position and prod the President into declaring a power crisis in Mindanao.

Earlier, Nograles said he would not recommend a special session to Ms Arroyo and admitted he could not guarantee a quorum.

But Rodriguez said a special session should be held within this week in order to give the National Power Corp. enough time procure power generation sets to augment the power supply, which has dried up due to the onset of the drought by the El Niño weather disturbance. (more than half of Mindanao?s power comes from hydropower plants).

The President has to invoke section 71 of the Energy and Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to allow Napocor to go into power generation, albeit temporarily and Malacañang said this would require approval from Congress in a special session. The President has already hinted of her support for the Department of Energy?s call for crisis powers to solve the power problem but Nograles claimed she had reconsidered her position.

``We have 61 representatives from Mindanao and all of them except for the Speaker will surely attend. I also expect almost all lawmakers from Luzon and Visayas would attend the special session because they sympathize with our plight and it would not look too good if they ignore our suffering if they are running for re-election,?? said Rodriguez in a phone interview.

Rodriguez said he did not know why Nograles opposed a special session when all of Mindanao?s residents and businesses have been experiencing 5- to 12-hour brownouts due to a lack of power supply. ``But we will not give up, the Speaker has just one vote in Congress,?? said Rodriguez, a member of former President Joseph Estrada?s Partido ng Masang Pilipino, who noted the willingess of lawmakers to cross party lines just to resolve the crisis.

The House committee on energy previously endorsed a motion by Rodriguez calling on the President to call a special session for her to invoke Section 71 of EPIRA. The committee will hold a hearing in Mindanao on March 11 to allow lawmakers from Luzon and the Visayas to have a personal account of the power problems plaguing Mindanao.