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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Velasco's takeaway from Western Visayas blackout probe: 'Lahat may kasalanan'

Velasco's takeaway from Western Visayas blackout probe: 'Lahat may kasalanan'

Published Jan 12, 2024 09:57 am

At A Glance

  • Marinduque lone district Rep. Lord Allan Velasco believes that everybody is at fault in some way when it comes to the Jan. 2 to 5 blackout in Western Visayas.
  • Velasco chairs the House Committee on Energy.

FB_IMG_1705053045223.jpgMarinduque lone district Rep. Lord Allan Velasco (Facebook)

If the House Committee on Energy chairman had any takeaway from the investigation on the widespread Western Visayas power outage, it's that no single agency or entity was solely at fault.

In fact, Marinduque lone district Rep. Lord Allan Velasco reckoned that every agency had a bit of blame over the blackout.

"I'm not pointing fingers. Sa tingin ko lahat may kasalanan because it's a whole system. Hindi naman babagsak yan kung ganun (In my view, everybody is at fault because it's a whole system. Otherwise it wouldn't fail like that)," said Velasco at the tail end of the committee’s six-hour hearing on the blackout Thursday, Jan. 11.

The House panel probe delved into the three-day power interruption that affected Panay and Negros islands from Jan. 2 to 5.

That a similar outage occurred in these areas just nine months ago had greatly angered Western Visayas congressmen, several of whom took part in Wednesday's proceedings.

Attending the hearing were representatives from the regulators' side, composed of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and Department of Energy (DOE); grid operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), distribution utilities, and local governments affected by the lengthy blackout.

Velasco, who presided over the hearing, also had the impression that the agencies didn't seem to fear any accountability at all.

"It's really a matter of accountability...Everyone walang takot. Sorry ha. Lahat walang takot (Everyone had no fear. Sorry to say this. Everyone had no fear). No one's accountable," the veteran lawmaker pointed out.

"Eh kami lahat magsa-suffer. Sino lahat ng kumikita? Power plant, distribution, generation. Eh pano yung mga kababayan natin? (It's us that would suffer. Who are raking in profits? Power plant, distribution, generation. What about our countrymen?)

"So it's really more of that. I think DOE, ERC should look into that. I think it's more of accountability," Velasco said.

The energy committee will continue discussions on the Western Visayas blackout in a future hearing, he said.

Related Tags

committee on energy western visayas Blackout lord allan velasco
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