Senator Raffy Tulfo said Sunday he would seek an audience with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to discuss ways that the Senate can help ease the energy crisis in Occidental Mindoro, which has been suffering 20-hour outages for more than a month now.
Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate energy committee, said he has discussed the problem with National Electrification Administration (NEA) chief Antonio Almeda.
Almeda said the Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (OMECO), which doesn’t have the funds to buy bunker fuel, would seek a P50-million loan as a temporary solution to the widespread outages in the province.
Almeda also told Tulfo that the NEA has already requested a certificate of exemption from the Department of Energy (DOE) to allow OMECO to enter into the emergency power supply agreement.
This would enable the cooperative to secure modular generator sets from Singapore that can generate up to 17 megawatts (MW).
The NEA also asked for the transfer of four modular generator setswith 2W each from Mindanao to produce an extra 8MW for the province.
These are the same modular gensets that were used in 2013-2014 during the power crisis in Mindanao.
The NEA has also asked DMCI Power Corp. to provide about 5MW of electricity from Oriental Mindoro to Occidental Mindoro. This 5MW will immediately provide an extra four hours of electricity per day in Occidental Mindoro.
Tulfo was also informed that the NEA and DOE have requested the Department of Finance (DOF) to remove the restriction on the next loan secured by the National Power Corp. (NPC) so that it can provide a subsidy to OMECO.
Tulfo said NEA has asked NPC to renovate and operate the old and unused NPC plant to generate up to 10MW.
Meanwhile, Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona tore into the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for alleged failing to act on the NPC’s request to adjust power rates that led to the current power crisis.
He said OMECO was not able to supply enough power due to the NPC’s unpaid subsidies.
“To date, ERC has not approved Napocor’s request,” he said.
Occidental Mindoro was placed under a state of calamity due to the power outages for the last month and a half, Occidental Mindoro.
Madrona said the power costs have been rising since 2022 due to increased fuel costs from P30 to P60 per liter.
The failure of ERC to properly arrest the issues may spill over to other small islands being serviced by Small Island Power Utilities Group, such as in Palawan, Mindoro, Masbate, Romblon, and Catanduanes.
“This man-made disaster is not only a source of inconvenience and irritation but will also adversely affects businesses especially tourism, which is one of the main sources of livelihood in these island provinces,” Madrona said.