Despite recent energy woes and power outages in Luzon, President Marcos on Tuesday, April 23, assured that the Philippines has enough power supply and is poised to bring renewable sources of energy to stabilize the output.

President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. presides over a situation briefing on the effects of El Niño in Occidental Mindoro. (Photo from the Presidential Communications Office) 

Marcos said in a media interview in Occidental Mindoro that the problem arose because several power plants tripped and experienced technical problems.
 

“So, ang power supply natin ay sapat naman. Nagkaka red and yellow lang tayo na alert pero sa kasalukuyan, nakikita namin, dahan-dahan bumabalik sa normal  na naman ‘yan (So, our power supply is enough. We just had red and yellow alerts but currently, we can see it slowly coming back to normal),” adding that the technical problems in the power plants are being fixed.
 

“Talagang, mabigat lang talaga ang load. Hindi kinaya, tsaka nagka-technical problem. May piyesa run na kailangan palitan, kayat iyon ‘yung ginagawa ngayon, binabalik ng dahan-dahan (The load is really just heavy. The [power plant] cannot handle and there was a technical problem. A fuse needs to be changed, so that’s what’s being done now, it’s slowly coming back).”
 

Last week, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) declared red and yellow alerts in the Luzon grid after 19 power plants went on forced outage.
 

On Saturday, a yellow alert was raised for four hours in Luzon because the supply of electricity in the Luzon grid remained thin, the NGCP said.
 

Rotational brownouts are implemented during a red alert status, while a yellow alert means the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement though it doesn’t always lead to power interruptions.
 

Meanwhile, the President assured the Mindoro provinces that a submarine cable is being installed to connect them to the grid and address the power outage problems there.
 

“So,naglalagay na tayo ng submarine cable para dito specifically sa Mindoro para ‘yung mga ibang lugar naman na sobra ang kanilang capacity, hindi nagagamit, sayang. So, ‘yun ang pwede nating paglipat-lipat kung saan ang pangangailangan (So, we are installing submarine cable specifically for Mindoro so other areas with a surplus of capacity that they do not use, it’s such a waste. So, we can transfer those where they are needed),” Marcos explained.
 

The Chief Executive also said that his administration is keen to provide a “long-term solution” to the power woes in the provinces, identifying solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal energies as new sources of power.
 

Noting that electricity has long been a problem in the province, he added that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is currently negotiating for electricity pricing for the two provinces, which could lead the government to consider subsidizing energy in the province.
 

“‘Pag natapos ‘yun, then special case naman kasi talaga ang Mindoro sa power – kaya’t pagka natapos ‘yun malaman na namin kung paano ‘yung puwedeng gawin dito baka makapagbigay ng subsidy – baka makapag-approve ng subsidy para sa Mindoro provinces (Once that is done, Mindoro is a special case in terms of power—once that’s over, we’ll see what we can do here, maybe we can give subsidy—maybe we can get a subsidy approved for Mindoro provinces),” Marcos furthered.