MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday slammed the Department of Energy (DOE) for the recent power outages in parts of Luzon.
Last week, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed Luzon under “red alert” and “yellow alert” for the insufficient power supply in the region.
Robredo said, however, that the DOE should have been prepared especially during the summer season when the demand for power would typically be high.
“The DOE should have predicted that consumption will be high during the summer season. They should have prepared for it, ” Robredo said in Filipino during “BISErbisyong LENI,” her weekly program aired over AM station DZXL.
Due to the alerts raised over Luzon, parts of several cities and provinces — such as Metro Manila, Bulacan, and Cavite — experienced rotating brownouts.
Robredo compared the rotating brownouts experienced across Luzon to living at a time long before 2019.
“Why do we still experience rotating brownouts? It feels like we are not in 2019. And yet there have many improvements and programs put in place,” she said. “Both consumption and supply are predictable. Why do we still end up in situations like this?”
/atm