The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has denied before congressmen allegations that it failed to submit reports in a timely manner to energy regulators regarding the back-to-back tripping of the 500 kilovolt (KV) Ilijan-Dasmariñas and Ilijan-Tayabas transmission lines.

NGCP President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anthony Almeda made this assertion on Tuesday morning, May 26, during a joint hearing of the House Committees on Energy and on Legislative Franchises.

"Hindi po totoong hindi kami nakapag-submit ng mga reports. Nakapagpadala po ng SMS (short message service) at email sa DOE (Department of Energy) at ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission), habang patuloy ang koordinasyon ng NGCP sa mga planta upang mabalanse ang power supply and demand," Almeda said.

(It is not true that we failed to submit reports. We sent SMS and email to the DOE and the ERC, while NGCP continues coordinating with the plants to balance power supply and demand.)

The back-to-back tripping earlier this month reportedly caused the subsequent red and yellow alerts in the Luzon and Visayas grids, which led to rotating brown outs in these regions.

These power outages led to House Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III's filing of House Resolution (HR) No. 1024, which led to the joint hearing.

"On 13 May 2026, at 4:46AM and 6:30AM, respectively, the Dasmarinas-Ilijan and Ilijan-Tayabas 500kV lines tripped. SMS advisories for both occurrences were issued within minutes of the occurrence," Almeda said.

"Additionally, the outage of the Ilijan-Tayabas Line triggered the issuance of a Significant Incident Notice (SIN), and subsequently, a Significant Incident Report (SIR) ninety (90) minutes after the occurrence. The ERC Resolution No. 13 (Series of 2010) requires that the SIN and the SIR be issued within fifteen (15) and sixty (60) minutes, respectively," he said.

"We underline that we were able to restore the two affected lines within 8 and 12 hours, despite the mountainous terrain and rainy weather conditions in the area. These lines are regularly maintained, with the last inspection conducted in April 2026," the official further told the solons.

Almeda said NGCP was still investigating the root cause of the transmission disturbance. "Sabotage has not yet been ruled out, and we have already requested the PNP (Philippine National Police) for assistance."

He further said the grid alerts issued between May 13 and 15 were "truly the result of a series of unfortunate events".

"On May 12, one day before the transmission incident, 31 plants were already on forced shutdown or were on derated operations. The Luzon grid recorded the highest demand for 2026 at 14,268MW. The Visayas grid was already on yellow alert triggered by unplanned generation shutdowns. No significant transmission incident occurred in the Visayas on May 12," he said.

He further claimed that, "To peg the May 13 to 15 grid alerts as caused only by the transmission outage is not only misleading, but will not permit energy industry players and responsible government agencies to formulate relevant and lasting solutions, as key parts of the problem are conveniently ignored".

As for red alerts--which are more dire than yellow alerts--Almeda said, "Sadly, become an annual occurrence."

"We, as energy stakeholders, must focus on the cause of the repeated outages, and concentrate our efforts at reinforcing weak areas in the industry."

NGCP Public Relations Chief Cynthia Alabanza later told the joint panel that "We do not deny the accountability of the NGCP on the red alerts."

Alabanza also qualified that the grid operator submitted on time the required initial report to the energy regulators. She said a more detailed report was due in two weeks, as per rules.

Palawan 2nd district Rep. Jose Alvarez, chairman of the energy panel, repeatedly said during the hearing that Tuesday's proceedings wasn't meant to find fault with NGCP, but to find out what was the cause of the trippings.

Alvarez said he was "very sad" to learn during the hearing that NGCP still didn't know the true reason behind the trippings ,which caused the brownouts.

However, Alvarez would later acknowledge while looking at a picture of the affected line that it looked liked it was "binaril" (shot with a gun).

This observation was supported by ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, who commented, "Frankly to me, that doesnt look like wear and tear."

Alabanza said this was precisely why the angle of sabotage had yet to be ruled out. "Medyo hindi ho maintindihan yung cause kaya nirefer namin sa PNP (We cannot quite understand the cause, that's why we referred it to the PNP)."

House Assistant Minority Leader PHILRECA Party-list Rep. Presley de Jesus floated the possibility that the trippings could be part of an attack on NGCP to compromise its congressional franchise, which could be taken away if the solons deem it necessary.

"We keep on blaming NGCP...yung poliice report, kailan kaya lalabas yun? Gusto ko lang malaman talaga kung kailan yun. Kasi it's crucial no baka mamaya nasasabotahe na kayo o ano, nabe-blame kayo because remember, may franchise kayo. Baka may gustong kumuha [ng franchise]," he said.

(We keep on blaming NGCP… when will that police report come out? I just really want to know when. Because it’s crucial—maybe you’re already being sabotaged or something, and you’re being blamed. Remember, you have a franchise. Maybe someone wants to take that franchise.)

There was no PNP representative during the hearing.