By Raymund Antonio
Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday slammed what she said was the Department of Energy’s (DOE) lack of preparation for the widespread brownouts that hit parts of Metro Manila and Luzon.
Vice President Leni Robredo (OVP / MANILA BULLETIN)
In her weekly radio show, Robredo rued how the lack of preparation by the DOE led to the recent spate of power outages that brought inconvenience to several Filipinos during this summer season.
“May entire department na ang trabaho, asikasuhin ito, so bakit hindi siya napaghandaan? Bakit kailangan na magkaroon tayo ng sitwasyon na nagro-rotating brownouts tayo?” she asked.
(We have an entire department that the job is to resolve the issue, so why it has not prepared for it? Why do we need to have a situation of rotating brownouts?)
“Parang wala tayo sa 2019, ‘di ba? Parang, ang dami nang improvement na ginawa, ang dami nang programang inayos. Ano naman, predictable iyong lagay—hindi lang noong consumption pero noong supply,” she said on her "BISErbisyong Leni" program.
(It looks like we are not in 2019, right? A lot of improvements had been undertaken, there were many programs which had been fixed. The situation is predictable—not only in consumption but also in supply.)
Meralco has implemented rotational brownouts in recent days as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines raised the red alert status for the Luzon grid.
In Metro Manila, major cities were affected by the three-hour brownouts and were widespread through the cities of Quezon, Manila, Valenzuela, Makati Caloocan, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Taguig, Pasay, Marikina, and Pasig, among others.
Outside of Metro Manila, the affected provinces were Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon.
For the Vice President, the government should have been more proactive so that rotating brownouts could be avoided.
“Iyong tanong dito, dapat na-predict naman eh. Dapat na-predict na kapag kainitan, kapag summer, talagang tumataas iyong consumption. So dapat, dahil siguradong tataas iyong consumption, dapat napapaghandaan,” she said.
(The question here, it should have been predicted that if it’s hot during summer, the power consumption increases. So, because the consumption would surely increase, they should have prepared for it.)
READ MORE: Luzon grid on 10-hour yellow alert despite low-demand weekend
Vice President Leni Robredo (OVP / MANILA BULLETIN)
In her weekly radio show, Robredo rued how the lack of preparation by the DOE led to the recent spate of power outages that brought inconvenience to several Filipinos during this summer season.
“May entire department na ang trabaho, asikasuhin ito, so bakit hindi siya napaghandaan? Bakit kailangan na magkaroon tayo ng sitwasyon na nagro-rotating brownouts tayo?” she asked.
(We have an entire department that the job is to resolve the issue, so why it has not prepared for it? Why do we need to have a situation of rotating brownouts?)
“Parang wala tayo sa 2019, ‘di ba? Parang, ang dami nang improvement na ginawa, ang dami nang programang inayos. Ano naman, predictable iyong lagay—hindi lang noong consumption pero noong supply,” she said on her "BISErbisyong Leni" program.
(It looks like we are not in 2019, right? A lot of improvements had been undertaken, there were many programs which had been fixed. The situation is predictable—not only in consumption but also in supply.)
Meralco has implemented rotational brownouts in recent days as the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines raised the red alert status for the Luzon grid.
In Metro Manila, major cities were affected by the three-hour brownouts and were widespread through the cities of Quezon, Manila, Valenzuela, Makati Caloocan, Las Piñas, Parañaque, Taguig, Pasay, Marikina, and Pasig, among others.
Outside of Metro Manila, the affected provinces were Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon.
For the Vice President, the government should have been more proactive so that rotating brownouts could be avoided.
“Iyong tanong dito, dapat na-predict naman eh. Dapat na-predict na kapag kainitan, kapag summer, talagang tumataas iyong consumption. So dapat, dahil siguradong tataas iyong consumption, dapat napapaghandaan,” she said.
(The question here, it should have been predicted that if it’s hot during summer, the power consumption increases. So, because the consumption would surely increase, they should have prepared for it.)
READ MORE: Luzon grid on 10-hour yellow alert despite low-demand weekend