Senator Grace Poe on Thursday, January 18 urged the government, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), and other stakeholders to immediately put a stop to the rotational blackouts occurring in the Western Visayas region. 

“The rotational blackout in parts of Western Visayas must be addressed before darkness engulfs the region anew,” said Poe said, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services.

“It's imperative for the NGCP, private firms and other concerned agencies to work double time to stem the problem, whether on the supply, generation or transmission side, to avert a repeat of the recent power outage,” she said.

The NGCP has earlier warned of another power outage in Panay due to still unresolved power issues with some power plants distributing electricity in the area.

The NGCP’s advisory comes after an unscheduled manual load dropping (MLD) that resulted in a power outage in the Negros and Panay sub-grid on Wednesday night. 

Poe lamented that another outage is happening when the investigation into the previous blackout has not yet been completed and those responsible for it have not been held accountable. 

“Households, schools, businesses, government offices suffer immensely, and activities come to a halt without power,” she said.

“The rolling blackouts must not be the way of life for our people,” the senator said.

During the Senate Committee on Energy’s investigation into the power outage in Panay Island, senators scored the NGCP for its failure to maintain the stability of the grid which led to the massive blackouts. 

Sen. Raffy Tulfo, chairman of the energy panel had earlier vowed to convene the Joint Congressional Energy Commission (JCEC) to review the NGCP’s franchise in a bid to pursue its cancellation.