Siquijor’s power crisis to have long-term solution in 6 months – Marcos
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. —Screengrab from a video posted on his Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — A long-term solution to Siquijor’s ongoing power crisis will be implemented within six months, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, he said two generator sets would be deployed for temporary relief to the province, which has been placed under a state of calamity due to the worsening power outages.
READ: Siquijor execs seek relief for consumers hit by power crisis
“We’re here because our fellow Filipinos in Siquijor are experiencing a serious problem due to the inadequate power supply. There have been prolonged blackouts, and in some cases, certain households only get electricity for two to five hours a day,” Marcos told reporters in Filipino in a chance interview after his visit to the Siquijor Island Power Corp. (Sipcor).
“So what we did, at least in the short term, was to deploy large generator sets — two of which came from Palawan, where the power issues have already been resolved, making them available for use here,” he added.
The generator sets are set to arrive on Wednesday evening or Thursday.
Marcos emphasized that Sipcor must devise a long-term strategy to address the area’s power issues more effectively.
“We have given ourselves a deadline of six months for the short-term solution. By six months from now, we will then impose whatever new arrangements that we have to do, so that six months from now, we do not have to resort to an emergency genset,” he said.
“Now we have to think about fuel supply, we have to think about the development of even the transmission lines, we also have to make sure that the machines — the generators — are working properly. We have to fix all these. We have to do this. Sipcor has to live up to its commitments,” he added.
Asked for a comment on calls for another power provider, Marcos only said, “Everything is on the table. We just have to examine what is the best solution.” /atm
