CEBU City Councilor Joel Garganera has defended the necessity of the proposed P3.9 million Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) for the Cebu City Hall’s executive building, citing necessary upgrades for the building’s decade-old electrical system.
Garganera said the ATS provides a seamless power switch during outages and complements with the new, more powerful 1,000 Kilovolt-ampere (kVA) generator of the city, which will replace the old 300 kVA.
The proposed upgrade was first questioned during a City Council regular session on July 29, 2025, with several councilors raising concerns about the project’s cost and necessity.
The discussion led to calling an executive session with the Department of General Services (DGS) and experts.
Mayor Nestor Archival, who is an electrical engineer, also called for a review of the project.
Garganera, in an interview on Wednesday, Aug. 13, said the P3.9 million cost was questioned “because it was too expensive and was only like a mere breaker.”
Garganera said during the executive session on Aug. 12, it was found out that the executive building has had the same power lines for the last 20 years and without the ATS, the equipment and computers would be damaged “because the power transfer is not seamless.”
In the same executive session, the councilors found out that the ATS machine costs P1 million. The remaining P2.97 million allocated budged are for new cables and labor.
To justify the cost, Garganera has requested the DGS to conduct a power and load audit of the building to determine the structure’s actual power needs..
The ATS ensures a continuous power supply and protects equipment from surges and outages. / EHP