SENATORIAL aspirant Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., slammed the Arroyo government and past presidents since 1987 for neglecting investments in the country's power resources particularly in Mindanao.
At present, Mindanao is experiencing a power supply gap of about 510 megawatts based on the latest update of the National Grid Corporation (NGCP).
The power situation in Mindanao has been critical since a few years back due to the consistently growing demand on the power supply yet there have been no new investments in power plants.
The power crisis experienced at present is brought about by the drying-up of dams and water reservoirs tapped by National Power Corporation (Napocor) for its hydro power plants.
"This has been going on for years, and we all know that to put up a power plant will take years," Marcos said adding that the power outages will seriously affect the economy of the country if it will not be resolved immediately.
One of the actions eyed by the government now is to tap the power barges in order to ensure the stable supply of power in key areas of Mindanao.
"It is a bullet that we have to bite. There is no other cheap solution for this. Yes, it will be expensive but it will be more expensive if we start losing our economy," Marcos said citing the possible exorbitant fees that the usage of power barges might cost the consumers.
In his home province of Ilocos Norte, wherein the young Marcos was governor, a windmill farm has been put up to provide a stable supply of power in the area which is at the end of the Luzon grid.
"Being at the end, our power supply was fluctuating, and the investors did not want that as it will damage their machines," Marcos said, citing the 600 kilometer transmission line between the province and the power source near the National Capital Region and Central Luzon.
"We need enough power so modern economies can grow."
His father and namesake, the late Ferdinand Marcos, aggressively pushed for the tapping of renewable and stable sources of energy in the country, creating mega-structures that provided both irrigation for agriculture and hydro electric power plants throughout the country.
The last, and most ambitious, project is the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which has been mothballed by the administrations that took over after the 1986 Edsa revolt despite its capacity to generate over 600 megawatts.
"The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant has been mothballed based on a political reason. It is not technical and scientific," the young Marcos said in a press interview at the Marco Polo Hotel Davao Thursday morning.
"A problem like the power crisis should be resolved and addressed in a technical and scientific manner, as it is a technical and scientific problem."