NGCP restores power in Mindanao areas affected by ‘Pablo’

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines Friday said it has restored power supply to Mindanao areas affected by Typhoon “Pablo” following the completion of repair works on its transmission facilities.

In a statement posted on its website Friday, the NGCP said that its Cateel-Baganga 69-Kilovolt (kV) line, which connects the electric cooperatives servicing Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental to the Mindanao grid, has finally been restored and energized on December 29.

Earlier, electric cooperative officials criticized the NGCP, along with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) and the National Power Corp. for their alleged sluggish response to restore full power supply in Pablo-devastated areas.

Wilfredo Billena, president of the Philippine Rural Electric Coop. Association, Inc. (Philreca), said rural electric cooperatives serving Davao Oriental, Surigao del Sur and Compostela Valley had restored toppled lines but they cannot serve electricity to their consumers because no power supply has been flowing in.

“… all our concerted efforts are useless without the support of these agencies,” Billena said in his criticism of NGCP, Psalm and NPC a few days ago.

“We have restored lines but the problem is we have no supply,” Horacio Santos of the Caraga Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Creca) agreed.

“At present, all Pablo-hit NGCP facilities connecting power customers are fully energized,” the NGCP said.

Sergio Dagooc, president of the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (Amreco), who was inadvertently credited in an earlier Inquirer report for a quote made by Billena, said the Davao Oriental Electric Coop. has yet to energize 67 barangays or 36.6 percent of the 183 barangays in Cateel, Baganga and Caraga while the Davao del Norte Electric Coop. (Daneco) still needed to energize 185 or 49 percent of the 374 barangays in Compostela Valley.

The Agusan del Sur Electric Coop. has yet to energize 65 or 20.8 percent of the 313 barangays in Agusan del Sur and the Surigao del Sur Electric Coop. It has yet to energize 112 or 11 percent of the 113 barangays it serves, Dagooc said.

Dagooc thanked electric cooperatives based in Mindanao and in the Visayas, particularly in Cebu and Bohol, for their assistance in speeding up the restoration of electricity in the typhoon-hit areas.