Panay blackout: Lawmaker seeks NGCP franchise review, penalties

Iloilo Representative Julienne Baronda on Thursday joined calls to review the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines' (NGCP) franchise, after the power outages that hit Western Visayas, particularly Panay Island, last week.

“While most of our kababayans were still overjoyed by the ushering of a New Year, us Ilonggos, however, were greeted with a power blackout that tormented the entire Panay Island and some portions of Negros Island. Aside from asthma, children and the elderly were not able to sleep because of too much humidity, perishable food got stale, and small businesses suffered. Our daily loss was at P1 billion a day,” Baronda said.

“Section 2 of Republic Act 9511, states that the 50-year franchise of the NGCP is “granted under the condition that it shall be subject to amendment, alteration, or repeal by Congress when the common good so requires.” Considering the power outage misery that we experienced, we better take a serious look whether the franchise is being adhered to or not,” she added.

Baronda also echoed the lament of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas during Wednesday’s Senate inquiry, saying the blackout forced people to sleep in the plaza, gymnasiums, and at the seaside that, and that ICU patients were put at risk.

“I fear that the power outage of this magnitude taking place for the second time in less than a year is a portent of things to come. I sincerely hope that I am wrong but this hearing might be able to provide a concrete answer to this,” she said.

“As a result of the region-wide blackout’s disruption to our lives and the economy, the Ilonggo people would also like to know who is or are accountable, and more importantly, what fines or penalties can be imposed against these individuals or entities for their inefficiency or malfeasance or nonfeasance?” she added.

Other lawmakers who called for reviewing NGCP's franchise for the repeated outages in Panay was Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros and Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos, son of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. 

The NGCP earlier said that the outage was caused by almost simultaneous tripping of power plants, and that it followed protocol in addressing the issue despite the three-day outage.

"Based on our data, all the voltage, frequency are within limits [after PEDC 1 went down]. There were no overloaded transmission lines, the operating margin was sufficient, so we continued with our normal dispatch process,” NGCP Assistant Vice President and Head of National System Clark Agustin said.

"However, at 14:19 (2:19 p.m.) multiple power plants tripped almost simultaneously. Almost 300 megawatts tripped. So what happened, Panay is left with no local generation. We [then] immediately implemented our restoration process, so at 15:24 energized na po ulit yung Negros-Panay link natin, nag load na po gradually [ang power supply],” he added.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), however, said NGCP should have reported to the ERC the first tripping in Panay Energy Development Corporation) PEDC 1 unit and made countermeasures as provided under the Grid Code.

“Under the Grid Code, the loss of a large generating unit is considered a significant incident. In the Visayas, as provided by the Grid Code, anything above five megawatts is already considered a large generator and is already a significant [incident]," ERC Chairperson Mona Dimalanta said.

The PEDC 1 unit is 85-megawatt, which means it falls under a large generator and a significant incident in the event it malfunctions. — BM, GMA Integrated News