ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Business devider The Economy devider SIPCOR ordered to cease operations in Siquijor

SIPCOR ordered to cease operations in Siquijor

Published Aug 29, 2025 02:53 pm
SIPCOR is a subsidiary of Prime Asset Ventures Inc. (PAVI), a holding company of the Villar family, led by billionaire Manuel Villar.
SIPCOR is a subsidiary of Prime Asset Ventures Inc. (PAVI), a holding company of the Villar family, led by billionaire Manuel Villar.
The Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Electrification Administration (NEA) have announced that Siquijor Island Power Corp. (SIPCOR) will cease operations.
In a briefing, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the Villar-owned power supplier will be replaced by TOTALPower, Inc., which will supply 15.3 megawatts (MW) of power from three generation facilities on the island.
This decision follows an order from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to revoke all of SIPCOR’s provisional operating permits.
SIPCOR is a subsidiary of Prime Asset Ventures Inc. (PAVI), a holding company of the Villar family, led by billionaire Manuel Villar.
According Garin, the island has experienced 568 power interruptions, averaging more than 31 outages per month.
“SIPCOR’s unstable plants caused power interruptions every single day from July 20 to Aug. 4, with outages exceeding seven hours a day on five separate days during this period,” Garin told reporters.
She also stated that SIPCOR had failed to maintain its minimum fuel inventory, meeting the required 10-day threshold on only 21 out of 71 days of monitoring.
Following the cease and desist order, the Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative (PROSIELCO) signed an Emergency Power Supply Agreement (EPSA) with TOTALPower. The new power supply is well above the province’s peak energy demand of 9.5 MW, according to NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda.
Cebu I Electric Cooperative and Cebu III Electric Cooperative have also helped by expediting the completion of take-off terminals for the new plants.
“SIPCOR has now been directed to cooperate and synchronize its plants’ shutdown with the commercial operations and synchronization of the new generating units to PROSIELCO’s distribution lines,” Garin added.
Meanwhile, SIPCOR said the company will assess the recent decision by the ERC, which it described as vague, and will “exhaust all remedies available to us under the law.”
“We assure our stakeholders and the public of our commitment to address the matter responsibly and resolve this concern as soon as possible,” it added
The investigation into SIPCOR began after President Ferdinand Marcos inspected its facilities on June 11. Audits by the NEA and studies by the DOE found that the company had not made significant improvements.

Related Tags

Department of Energy (DOE) National Electrification Administration (NEA) SI Power Corp. (SIPCOR)
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.