Incidents of power cable theft have been increasing during the height of the pandemic, according to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).
Efren Olpindo, Meralco operations services management manager, said in a briefing on Wednesday that from 2020 to October 2022, Meralco recorded 457 power cable theft incidents, of which 106 resulted in service interruptions and eight caused injuries and death.
“We got a historical data with respect to cable theft count in Meralco’s franchise are, half of the theft incidents occurred in Metro Manila… Looking back further, in 2019, before the pandemic, only 75 were recorded but come 2020, it increased to 137 and by 2021 it became 173 then as of October 2022, its at 147. It’s quite alarming because as we see, the trend is going up and it causes interruption and harm to the public and perpetrators,” Olpindo said.
Meralco also recorded power cable thefts in Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon Province and Rizal.
Olpindo said perpetrators are risking their lives to commit such thefts as the aluminum and copper inside the power cables can be usually sold in junk shops for a meager amount.
“On the average, it takes us five to six hours to restore, including the repairs of broken power cables. What Meralco usually does is isolate damaged power cables to minimize affected customers. On the average, customers involved but are not directly affected with damaged power cables only need to wait mere minutes or up to 2 and half hours…,” Olpindo added.
Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco spokesman, the Anti-electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994 slaps a fine ranging from P50,000 to P100,000 or both at the discretion of the court and imprisonment of 12 years and one day to 20 years for any person found guilty of theft of electric power transmission lines and materials. -Jed Macapagal
