Negros Oriental Third District Representative Janice Degamo filed House Resolution 1114 on June 11, 2026, seeking a congressional investigation into repeated grid alerts and power plant shutdowns across the Visayas.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines placed the Visayas Grid under a yellow alert on June 17, 2026, citing a shortage of 984.8 MW due to various plant outages.
Cebu-based business leaders from the Talisay and Mandaue chambers of commerce urged authorities to prioritize building new power projects and infrastructure over further investigations to address the region's supply-demand gap.
THE Visayas region is facing a severe power crisis that is triggering rotational brownouts and threatening local economies. In response, a lawmaker is calling for a congressional investigation to find out why the power grid keeps failing and who should be held accountable.
The move comes as business leaders warn that constant electricity shortages are putting local industries, jobs, and overall economic growth at serious risk.
Negros Oriental Third District Representative Janice Degamo has officially filed House Resolution 1114. The resolution calls for the House Committee on Energy to launch an inquiry into the region's repeated grid alerts, power cuts, and the sudden shutdowns of several power plants.
The goal of the investigation is to uncover the root causes of these constant disruptions and find ways to make the region's energy supply more secure.
“This situation demands clear answers. The public deserves to know why this keeps happening, what is being done to fix it, and who must be held accountable,” Degamo said in a statement on June 11, 2026.
Degamo pointed out that rotational power interruptions have now been going on for more than a month. These outages are affecting households, schools, hospitals, businesses, and government offices across the Visayas.
“The power outages affect our homes, our schools, our hospitals, our businesses, our government services, and the daily lives of ordinary Filipino families," Degamo said.
The crisis remains an everyday reality for residents. On June 17, 2026, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the Visayas Grid under a "yellow alert" from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
A yellow alert means the buffer supply of electricity is dangerously low. On that day, the available power capacity was ,2550 megawatts (MW), which was barely enough to cover the peak demand of 2,478 MW.
According to the NGCP, several power plants were either completely shut down or running at reduced capacity. This left the region short by nearly 984.8 MW of power.
These ongoing supply limits are causing deep concern among business groups, especially in Cebu, where large manufacturing and tourism industries depend entirely on stable electricity.
While business leaders agree that accountability is important, they are urging the government to move past discussions and focus on building new power projects quickly.
Carl Cabusas, president of the Talisay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that the fundamental problem is already obvious: electricity demand is growing much faster than the available power supply.
“While any effort to address the recurring power outages in the Visayas is welcome, I believe we have already spent too much time on congressional inquiries and investigations that have produced very little in terms of concrete solutions,” Cabusas said. “These hearings consume valuable time and public resources, yet the fundamental problem has long been known... The conversation should now move beyond identifying the problem and focus on solving it.”
For the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), the power grid alerts pose a severe threat to Mandaue City, which is one of Cebu’s biggest industrial hubs.
MCCI president Barbara “Bambi” Gothong-Tan explained that frequent power cuts disrupt factory production and drive up operational costs.
“If these power supply issues persist, they could contribute to higher prices of goods and services, disrupt supply chains, discourage investments, and ultimately affect employment generation and economic growth in the region," Gothong said. "We support the call for a congressional inquiry to identify the root causes of these recurring grid alerts and to ensure accountability among all stakeholders in the power sector.”
To fix the crisis for good, business leaders believe the government must focus on two main areas:
Diversifying Energy Sources: Cabusas urged policymakers to boost power production through a mix of conventional energy, solar, wind, or even nuclear power. He stressed that reliable and affordable electricity is vital for investor confidence.
Faster Infrastructure Upgrades: Gothong called for quicker implementation of power transmission projects. She urged the Department of Energy (DOE), the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and the NGCP to work closer together and speed up the permitting process for new power projects.
Ultimately, having reliable and affordable power is essential to sustaining business growth and supporting daily life across Cebu and the wider Visayas region. The success of this new government push will depend entirely on whether officials can cut through red tape, attract private investors, and successfully build new power sources before the region's energy shortages get even worse. LRM KCL