PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday gave energy officials and power provider Siquijor Is-land Power Corp. (Sipcor) six months to come up with long-term solutions to resolve the elec-tricity problems in the province of Siquijor.
The President, following the inspection of SIPCOR’s power plant in Siquijor, Siquijor, said tempo-rary stop-gap remedies would be implemented during the six months period, including the use of generation sets (gensets) previously used by the Palawan Electric Cooperative (Paleco) in Pa-lawan.
“We have given ourselves a deadline of six months for the short-term solution. By six months from now, we will then impose whatever new arrangements that we have to do… six months from now, we do not have to resort to the emergency gensets,” Marcos said.
He said among those that should be considered for the long term are the use of fuel supply, the development of transmission lines, and maintenance of generators.
“All of these should be in order. We have to do this. Sipcor has to live up to its commitments,” the President said, adding that failure on the part of Sipcor to comply is not an option.
“We will find a better system. We owe it to the people of Siquijor,” the President said, adding that the government would have a “serious” talk with the management of Sipcor to make sure that restore the power system in Siquijor.
Asked about calls made by some Siquijodnons to allow a new electricity provider, the President said: “Everything is on the table. We just have to examine what is the best solution.”
Marcos said that the National Electrification Administration (NEA) administrator has presented a framework on what needs to be done to improve the power situation in Siquijor, noting that the power situation is hampering the economic growth of the province, which is starting to be known on the tourism front.
Prior to Marcos’ visit, the provincial government of Siquijor, through its Sangguniang Panlala-wigan, declared a state of calamity in the province due to the worsening power crisis.
The state of calamity declaration would enable the provincial government to access its Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (LDRRMF), specifically the Quick Response Fund (QRF), to implement immediate interventions.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the President has already ordered the legal review and audit of the agreement between Sipcor and the Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative (PROS-IELCO) to determine where the shortcoming lies and to hold accountable those who are respon-sible for the crisis.
Castro said the daily brownouts of at least five hours a day is no laughing matter and has already seriously affected the work, businesses and livelihood in the province, the classes of students, and has put at risk the health of patients in health facilities.
“The daily brownouts is due to the lack of power supply and old power facilities, the lack of funds to buy spare parts, and fix the broken generators. These are not acceptable to the Presi-dent who ordered the immediate resolution of the problem),” she said in Filipino.
Castro said other directives of the President include the renting of another generator in addition to the two from Palawan, and for NEA to oversee the crisis response and to coordinate with the local government units and power distributor.
In a statement, Sipcor said that it is currently implementing measures to resolve the power sup-ply challenges in the province, including the evaluation and assessment for corrective mainte-nance for its service units.
It said that it completed the maintenance service for one unit last June 9, which increased its plant’s operating capacity to 7,550 kilowatt, while the evaluation for another unit is expected to be completed within the week.
It said it also rented a generation set to cover the supply shortage during the repairs, as it vowed to power gradually restore power within the week.
