A BIG portion of Mindanao including Cagayan de Oro City was hit by an unscheduled and unannounced power outage on Thursday, November 8, after a National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) transmission line tripped.

In an advisory, the NGCP said it monitored a grid disturbance around 10:38 a.m. Thursday, which resulted in loss of power supply in northwestern and northeastern Mindanao.

“Initial investigation reports that intentional toppling of vegetation under the Baloi-Agus 2 transmission line resulted in the loss of power over vast areas in Northeastern and Northwestern Mindanao,” the statement from NGCP said.

As of Thursday evening, the NGCP said it has restored all transmission services and was operating under normal conditions, except for the Agus 2 - Baloi line which is still being cleared.

Apart from Cagayan de Oro City, other affected areas were Misamis Oriental, Iligan City, Butuan, Pagadian, Bukidnon, Davao, among others.

Marilyn Chavez, Cepalco's assistant vice president and head of customer and community relations department, said around 90 percent of the service area of the Cagayan Electric Power and Light Company Incorporated (Cepalco) was affected.

"Naay uban areas nga wala napagngan sa kuryente. Ato pang gipangayo ang explanation sa NGCP kung unsa ang cause,” Chavez said.

Chavez said restoration of power supply depended on voltage normalization.

"Ang uban after 2 hours nakabalik na ang kuryente ang uban wala pa kay i-normalize pa man ang voltage ana," she said. (Power was restored in some areas after two hours. It took longer in other areas because the voltage has yet to normalize.)

In its advisory, NGCP urged all stakeholders to guard its lines and respect right-of-way (ROW) clearances. Any suspicious activity may be reported to their TIPNGCP Hotline, 0917.847.6427 or 0918.847.6427.