Tuesday, January 22, 2008 Braga raises concern about power crisis in Mindanao By Joy Romares-Sevilla
DAVAO City Councilor Pilar Braga, who chairs the Committee on Energy, Transportation, and Communication, said the City Government of Davao is worried about the recent admission by the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) that there is a looming power crisis in Mindanao.
"Davao is part of Mindanao and with Transco's announcement, we're very concerned, we have to do something before our lifestyle, our transportation, and other sectors will be affected," Braga said in Monday's edition of the Kapehan sa Dabaw at the SM Entertainment Plaza.
Braga said a resolution was already passed to the City Council for the conduct of a local energy summit in Davao City.
"The local summit will be conducted early next month or by the last week of January," Braga said.
She said the local government has also passed a resolution asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to consider the petition of the non-government organizations (NGOs) to hold a national summit on energy.
"The crisis on oil is very real, once prices of oil increase, everything is automatically affected. We asked the President to also come up with a national summit on energy so that we could come up an energy plan for the country for the next few years," Braga said.
Braga added that the idea of coming up a resolution on having a national energy summit was also shared to the director of Transco in Southern Mindanao.
"The summit is very important so we can address the rising prices of oil and we can seriously look for alternative sources of energy. With this, we are able to come up with a correct picture regarding power crisis in Davao City. We also have to ask experts to help the city draw a comprehensive energy plan," she said.
Braga said she also coordinated with the Department of Energy (DOE) in Southern Mindanao. "The department (DOE) really intends to have a regional summit on energy prior to the national summit that the department also pushes," she said.
Last week, the Transco office in General Santos City has announced that power crisis in Mindanao will be crucial in 2010 to 2011 during which the reserve level is expected to fall than the minimum reserve level.
Councilor Peter Laviña, also guest of the same press forum, said with the expansion of some power companies in Davao Region starting this year, "we can safely say that power supply in Davao will be stable."
