Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday, December 31 said he is confident there would be sufficient funding to fully implement the government’s rural electrification program for next year.
Gatchalian said the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), which President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. had signed on Monday, December 30, has a P1.87-billion subsidy to the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to provide electricity for approximately 22,000 households through the implementation of its strategic rural electrification.
“We hope that the budget allocation for the National Electrification Administration for 2025 would help push the rural electrification program to its completion in the next couple of years,” Gatchalian said in reaction to the signing by the President of the 2025 GAA.
NEA had earlier claimed that inadequate government subsidy has been the biggest challenge to the attainment of 100% (percent) rural electrification.
According to Gatchalian, an estimated 4.214 million households throughout the country are still without electricity as of June 2023.
During the Senate hearings on the budget, energy officials said the government’s target is to reach total electrification in the country by 2028.
While the five-year plan to achieve 100 percent electrification by 2028 has been progressing, the government needs budgetary support to ensure to achieve the target, the senator emphasized.
Under the five-year electrification plan, the government aims to increase coverage to 94 percent by 2025, 97 percent by 2026 and achieve 100 percent by 2027.
Gatchalian pointed out conomic development, particularly in rural areas, would be difficult to achieve without electricity as it is a major factor in attracting investments and in the operations even of micro and small business enterprises.
“Ang kuryente ay isang pangunahing pangangailangan para sa iba't ibang negosyo na kailangan natin sa mga malalayong lugar para makapagbigay ng trabaho at para sa tuloy-tuloy na pag-unlad ng ekonomiya (Electricity is a basic requirement for various businesses that we need in remote areas to provide employment and for continuous economic development),” he said.
As of 2023, electrification in the country stood at 89 percent, rising to 91 percent this year. As of August 2024, the NEA was able to energize 1,153 sitios through government subsidy provided the previous year.