Manila Bulletin
Philippines
National
Simple logic: Yap says no rotating brownouts if there's ample power
Philippines
National
Simple logic: Yap says no rotating brownouts if there's ample power
Simple logic: Yap says no rotating brownouts if there's ample power
Published May 26, 2026 01:28 pm
At A Glance
- Yap highlights supply issue, stressing that the real reason behind recent rotating brownouts is insufficient generation capacity rather than NGCP's reporting practices.
- DOE and NGCP clarify that NGCP complied with reporting requirements and that grid alerts were triggered by multiple plant shutdowns and rising demand, not solely by transmission line trippings.
- Historical data underscores the problem, showing that nearly 97 percent of red alerts from 2016 to 2025 were caused by generation supply deficiencies, reinforcing the need to address power adequacy.
Murang Kuryente Party-list Rep. Arthur Yap (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)
For Murang Kuryente Party-list Rep. Arthur Yap, the root cause of the recent rotating brownouts is simple: inadequate power supply.
This was highlighted by Yap during the joint hearing of the House Committees on Energy and on Legislative Franchises Tuesday, May 26, on the back-to-back tripping of the 500 kilovolt (KV) Ilijan-Dasmariñas and Ilijan-Tayabas transmission lines.
During the hearing, Yap questioned Department of Energy (DOE) officials on whether the issue being discussed was the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines' (NGCP) incident reporting or the actual shortage of available generation capacity that resulted in power interruptions.
The NGCP, the country’s grid operator, has received flak for the rotating brownouts in Luzon and Visayas, which has resulted from the trippings.
Addressing DOE officials, Yap noted that if there had been sufficient supply in the system, rotational brownouts would not have occurred.
"Sa DOE, you're trying to tell me that the entire explanation on rotating brownout ay dahil hindi nakapag-file on time ang NGCP sa report nila? (was because the NGCP failed to file their report on time)?" Yap asked.
He emphasized that the central issue remains the imbalance between supply and demand.
"Real issue is supply and demand. Kung sobra ang supply, bakit may rotating brownouts? (Why would there be rotating brownouts if there is excess in supply?)" he asked.
The party-list lawmaker's remarks echoed conclusions reached during a Senate inquiry in May 2025, where discussions similarly pointed to generation deficiencies and forced outages of power plants as the primary causes of rotational brownouts.
DOE Undersecretary Maria Marasigan acknowledged that the department regularly receives advisories and notifications from NGCP regarding significant incidents affecting the grid.
The NGCP, led by its president Anthony Almeda, told the solons that it complied with all applicable reporting requirements following the May 13 transmission disturbance, and issued advisories and notifications to concerned agencies while simultaneously restoring affected facilities and coordinating with power generators to maintain grid stability.
The company also underscored that the Luzon grid remained under normal operating conditions immediately after the tripping of the Dasmariñas-Ilijan and Ilijan-Tayabas 500kV transmission lines. Grid alerts were declared only after several generating plants, including Binga, Casecnan, and Limay, suffered unplanned shutdowns later in the day, while electricity demand projections increased by 312 megawatts.
NGCP stressed that the power system was already under considerable strain before the transmission incident occurred. On May 12, a day before the line disturbances, 31 power plants were already on forced outage or operating at reduced capacity.
Historical data further highlights the need to address generation adequacy. From 2016 to 2025, 235 out of 243 recorded red alerts—or 96.7 percent—were caused by generation supply deficiencies, while only a small fraction involved transmission-related issues.