Gov’t vows to secure transmission towers amid bombings

With the 2016 elections at stake, Malacañang on Monday assured the public that it will prevent future bombings of transmission towers.

“Government is exerting all efforts to ensure the security of the transmission towers and the sufficiency of electrical power supply as this would be a vital factor in holding orderly and redouble elections,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. told media.

The statement came after Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez complained of the series of bombings that has affected power supply in Mindanao.

READ: Solon warns of failure of elections in Mindanao due to bombings

He said 18 steel towers of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) were toppled since last year. Out of that number 16 were bombed last year.

“That is the function of the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines. It’s been a year now, and still there are no findings who are the mastermind or perpetrators on any of the 18 towers bombed,” Rodriguez in an ambush interview in Congress.

The lawmaker said he feared that the bombings would continue until the May elections, which may result in the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines being unable to count and transmit votes.

“We are facing the May 9, 2016 elections. And what will happen if we don’t have a supply? Our classrooms and precinct would be dark,” he said. “How can we have an elections that will be credible? We might have a failure of elections in Mindanao, comprising of 22 million people, (of which there are) 11 million voters, almost 20 percent of our voting population.”

READ: AFP vows to secure NGCP towers in Mindanao

The bombings last year were blamed on the breakaway group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).