LAPU-LAPU City Lone District Rep. Ma. Cynthia “Cindi” Chan wants to hear the side of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) before calling for a congressional investigation into the damaged transmission line that resulted in rotating brownouts in Mactan Island.
Chan issued the statement Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, a day after her husband, Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan said he will not agree to have consumers in his city pay for the increase in electric bills, particularly the generation cost, being imposed by the Mactan Electric Company (Meco) to cover increased costs following damage to its power supply cable caused by DPWH.
“Before we go to drastic measures such as calling for congressional investigation or inquiry, I would first like to hear the side of all parties, especially DPWH since they are the ones responsible in damaging the transmission line,” she said.
The congresswoman said she would like to know the steps the DPWH has taken or will take with respect to the issue.
“Whoever caused the damage should be the one to pay for its repair,” she added.
For his part, Mayor Chan said he will invite DPWH 7 Director Ernesto Gregorio Jr., DPWH Sixth District Engineer Daisy Toledo, the Lapu-Lapu City Council, Meco and representatives of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to another meeting this week.
This after expressing dismay that the DPWH only sent a maintenance engineer to attend the executive session that he had called on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
Mayor Chan wanted to discuss the rotating brownouts that Meco has started to impose on its customers following the incident involving one of NGCP’s cable lines situated at the crossroads of Ouano Ave. and UN Ave. in Mandaue City.
Chan ordered the City Legal Office to study the possibility of the City suing the DPWH over its failure to address the issue head-on.
Meanwhile, a representative from NGCP Visayas said they could not yet give a timeline on when the damaged cable line can be fully restored since they still have to undertake a bidding process.
The repair will reportedly take approximately 65 to 70 days to complete.
The incident was the third time the NGCP’s cable lines were damaged due to an accident caused by road projects of the DPWH.
The first incident happened in 2015 involving one of its cable lines near the corner of DM Cortes St. and AC Cortes Ave., followed by another accident at the intersection of UN Avenue and D.M. Cortes in 2019. It took the NGCP six months to repair the line in the 2019 incident.