AT LEAST three government offices will be signing an agreement to ensure that there will be no power outage come Election Day in Zamboanga City.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), and Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (Zamcelco) are set to forge a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for a blackout-free election.
Comelec Zamboanga Peninsula Director Helen Aguila-Flores said she will sit down with the NGCP and Zamcelco officials anytime before the May 10, 2010 elections for the MOA signing.
Flores said Zamboanga City should be blackout-free especially in the evening of election day, citing it is a crucial period for the Comelec.
It is the time where Comelec will be retrieving the ballot boxes from the different polling precincts.
Zamboanga City has a total of 98 barangays, 37 of which fall under the first congressional district while 61 under the second district.
Flores said they could still accomplish their job on the day of the election since the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine is equipped with battery that could supply power for 16 hours if blackout persists or inevitable.
NGCP is in charge of transmitting power coming from the source in Lake Lanao, while Zamcelco is the power distributor in Zamboanga City. (Bong Garcia)