SENATOR Imee Marcos, the sibling of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., said there is a need “to do better” with the power supply situation in the Island Garden City of Samal (Igacos), especially since the Department of Tourism (DOT) had prioritized Mindanao and Davao Region “as a viable tourism destination ready to be placed in the international tourism map”.
“This is not a good way to start a tourism campaign, we need to do better,” Marcos said in response to what solutions can be recommended to improve the power supply situation in Igacos.
The senator refers to the Philippine Experience Program campaign, which was launched in Davao Region, including Igacos.
The senator said she had spoken with Igacos Mayor Al David Uy on June 30 during her visit for the 56th Davao del Norte founding anniversary, together with the National Electrification Administration (NEA) regarding the power supply shortage in the area, which was currently under Northern Davao Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Nordeco).
“I was with the (Igacos) mayor yesterday (June 30) and I asked the NEA and it appears that for Davao del Norte... there’s been improvements with the brownouts, because the supply issue has been solved in Samal,” Marcos said in an interview with the media on July 1.
“In the meantime, we bought a lot of gensets (generator sets), I believe the local government bought them gensets as well,” Marcos added.
However, Marcos also said that the Samal power supply issue is “a little bit complicated”.
She cites that Samal’s woes are not just limited to power supply problems, but also the “completely deteriorated” distribution system and submarine cables that were already destroyed by successive earthquakes.
Notably, Nordeco said in a notice issued June 22, that they will no longer implement a rotational brownout or load curtailment.
For the past months, the island has been experiencing a power crisis, resulting in the city government declaring a "state of calamity” and Senate probes.
The cooperative added that all its modular generator sets and those of Mindoro Grid Corporation and Igacos Light and Power Company (ILPC) are currently operational.
"These modular generator sets are enough to supply power distributed by Nordeco to Igacos," the power cooperative said.
However, local consumer group Davao Consumer Movement (DCM) had called out Nordeco for failing to meet their “self-imposed deadline” to fix the power crisis in Igacos by the end of May. (ICE)