Paleco downplays persisting brownouts in Puerto Princesa City

MANILA, Philippines — The Palawan Electric Cooperative (Paleco) on Wednesday downplayed the persisting power outages in Puerto Princesa City.

Senator Raffy Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Energy, asked Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron during the panel hearing if brownouts are rampant in their area.

“Itong Paleco raw ay patay sindi ‘yung kuryente diyan sa Puerto [Princesa]… Marami na pong nangyayaring krimen diyan sa Puerto [Princesa]. Tina-timing po tulad ng mga pagdukot kapag brownout daw po,” Tulfo said.

(This Paleco has on-off electricity in Puerto Princesa. Many crimes like abduction transpire in Puerto Princesa, especially when the power is out.)

“Nagkakaroon daw po ng mga disgrasya diyan sa kalye sa Puerto [Princesa] dahil nga po brownout at syempre hindi po gumagana ‘yung stoplights… Tama po ba, talagang talamak na ho ba talaga ang problema diyan sa brownout sa Puerto [Princesa]?” he asked the mayor.

(There were accidents in the streets of Puerto Princesa because of the brownout and since the stoplights did not work. Is this correct? Is Puerto Princesa suffering from brownouts?)

Bayron said that it is true, adding that there are days when power outages will last for four to five hours.

“Kung minsan magba-brownout nang matagal, palagay natin mga apat, limang oras. Kung minsan, pabalik-balik. Pero kung minsan tuloy-tuloy naman din ang kuryente,” the mayor shared.

(Sometimes, the power will go out for a long time, say four to five hours. Sometimes, it is intermittent. But sometimes, the electricity does not go off.)

“Iba’t ibang reason na ibinibigay sa amin. Hindi talaga matukoy kung sino ba ang may problema,” he added.

(We were given various reasons. We cannot determine who is at fault.)

But Paleco engineer RG Baylon Jr. denied this saying that Paleco is performing within the standard and that power outage occurs in a short time.

“So far po, kami po sa Paleco ay within the standard naman po o pasok pa rin sa standard,” Baylon claimed.

(So far, Paleco is performing within the standard.)

Tulfo then argued that Paleco should not claim that it is performing within the standard as power outages happen every day.

“Pasok pa rin sa standard ang inyo pong performance? Kung pasok pa rin sa standard, bakit po palaging brownout?” the senator questioned.

(Is your performance within the standard? If yes, why are there brownouts all the time?)

“’Yung standard niyo ho ba na sukatan diyan sa Paleco ay ‘yung palaging brownout? So that means incapable po talaga kayo magpatakbo ng electric cooperative. Huwag niyo pong banggitin ‘yung pasok pa rin kayo sa standard. Nakakahiya po,” he continued.

(Is the measurement of your standard in Paleco always out of power? So that means you are incapable of operating an electric cooperative. Do not say that you are within the standard. It is embarrassing.)

To address the issue of electricity supply and distribution, Paleco is working on its capital expenditure plan for 2022-2026.

The plan concentrates on the installation of substation and insulated conductors, among others.

/MUF