House of Representatives (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep, LRay Villafuerte is calling for the revocation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines' (NGCP) franchise after its supposed refusal to own up to the widespread power outage that affected several provinces in Western Visayas. 

“Atonement or corrective action can take place only when preceded by an acceptance of some sort or level of lapse in judgement or action, so how can we expect the NGCP to reform its ways or do better in running our national transmission system if it thinks it is not guilty of anything in the performance of its critical job?" Villafuerte asked in a statement over the weekend. 

“Modifying or canceling its franchise seems the best course of action at this point, given that the NGCP has haughtily refused to accept responsibility for the three-day power cutoff,” he added. 

In a statement on its Facebook page, the NGCP clarified that their mandate was only confined to the “transmission of power from producers to grid-connected areas of the country”. 

The power failure that affected Panay island and portions of Negros Island is said to be the fault of the “unplanned shutdowns of power generators". 

“It is alarming to hear policymakers immediately make conclusions based on assumptions contrary to fact,” the NGCP said. 

“Rather than using NGCP as a scapegoat, we urge policymakers to be objective in their search for facts and not coddle certain sectors. This is not a time to push personal or political agendas, but a time for honest-to-goodness solution finding,” the statement further read. 

Villafuerte stressed that with the NGCP’s “arrogance and cavalier attitude”, consumers should brace for more of these power crises in the future as the power concessionaire seems to see itself as faultless. 

If and when the franchise amendment or revocation goes through, the president of the National Unity Party (NUP) hopes that a more suitable transmission concessionaire emerges to deliver more stable, accessible, and cheaper electricity to consumers. 

He said this would be aligned with President Marcos’ goal of achieving 100 percent household electrification by 2028. 

Marcos himself has blamed the NGCP for its inaction during a two-hour window after the first of several power facilities tripped at about noon of Jan. 2. He said this could have prevented the system collapse that led to the widespread blackout that lasted for three days.

Villafuerte is also supporting the president’s directive to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to accelerate the rate reset review of NGCP’s rates. Once completed, it is expected to lower electricity charges.