ILOILO CITY – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has reportedly instructed the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to act on the problems besetting the Visayas grid that resulted in massive power blackouts across Western Visayas region last week.
According to Iloilo Gov. Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr., the President’s order was relayed to him by Secretary Raphael Lotilla of the Department of Energy (DOE).
The first massive power blackout occurred on April 27. It affected the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod.
While power was restored the night of April 27, another round of power blackouts occurred from April 28 to 30.
The problem was the “system disturbance” in the grid managed by NGCP.
Based on his conversation with Lotilla, Defensor said that the President told NGCP executives to make sure it will not happen again and that the NGCP must synchronize the “protection relays of transmission, generation, and distribution in the next two weeks.”
The NGCP was further urged to be transparent by continuously updating local officials, distribution utilities, power generators, and the DOE on a regular basis.
Defensor is set to convene a meeting with the Iloilo Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the Provincial Civil Defense Cluster on Tuesday, May 2, to discuss the impact of the massive blackouts.