Half of Tacloban still in the dark

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—More than three months after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” pummeled this city, more than half of the residents are still without power supply.

“We are doing our best to meet our deadline at least at the barangay (village) level,” said Rommel Moron, head of the maintenance and supervision division of the Leyte II Electric Cooperative (Leyeco II).

Leyeco II has vowed to energize 19,139 houses in 115 villages before the end of March. Tacloban has 138 villages with a total of 35,937 households.

Unless power supply is fully restored, business and commerce would not be able to resume full operations, Mayor Alfred Romualdez said.

The downtown area has been fully re-energized, but there are still areas where business establishments do not have electricity. Using generator sets, they have shortened operating hours.

Moron cited obstacles in meeting their target of full power restoration. For one, he said, the truck ban imposed by Manila had affected Leyeco’s effort since most of the materials needed, such as poles and transformers, come from Manila.

The Manila city government has not allowed trucks to use the streets from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. The schedule was later revised to 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. following a truckers’ strike.

Tacloban-bound trucks loaded with the materials and supplies were also not given priority in passage at the port in Matnog, Sorsogon province, to the port in Allen town, Northern Samar province, Moron said. Those carrying relief packs move much ahead.

Moron thanked other power cooperatives in the country for helping Leyeco II. Among these were Cebu Electric Cooperatives 1, 2 and 3, which sent a team of 577 engineers, linemen, barangay (village) electricians and support staff.

Leyeco II has also initiated a cash-for-work program for 100 people who were hired to dig holes for the posts. The volunteers work for 15 days and are paid P200 per day, Moron said.