Solon eyes House probe into Western Visayas power outages

A congressional probe into widespread power outages in Western Visayas provinces has been proposed in the House of Representatives.

Iloilo City lawmaker Julienne “Jam-Jam” Baronda made the call on Wednesday, noting that power outages in parts of Panay Island and portions of Negros Island are putting public welfare at risk.

She cited that the day before, on January 2, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) issued an advisory stating that all power plants in Panay Island had shut down at around 2:27 p.m. Soon after, the Negros-Panay grid was totally out.

The outages have since prompted Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas to suspend classes at all levels in the province and put up charging stations all over the city for residents in need.

"The investigation in aid of legislation on the April 2023 region-wide power outages by the Committee on Energy relative to House Resolution 933, which we authored along with fellow Ilonggo Representatives, has yet to be concluded, and yet this new incident took place, distressing the Ilonggos," Baronda said.

"It seems that those responsible and accountable have yet to learn their lesson," she said.

Baronda also renewed her call for the implementation of the interconnection of the Luzon and Visayas Grids that would pass through Mindoro as one of the measures to address the power problem on Panay Island, a call that she first made in August last year during House inquiry on the outages.

Baronda added that officials are "doing [their] share in finding lasting solutions to the energy problem affecting us all."

"Last month, we also spoke with Department of Energy Undersecretary Sharon Garin to help us hasten the interconnection, which she has kindly acceded to and is currently working on to realize," she said. — BM, GMA Integrated News