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By Ma. Ester L. Espina, Correspondent
BACOLOD CITY: With the constant
brownouts and with no immediate
solution at hand, Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco had no
recourse but to seek the help of Malacañang to send one power barge
to bring relief to residents and businesses who have been severely
affected by the acute power shortage in the province.
In his letter to the President,
Zayco stressed the inconvenience and losses among businesses by the
intermittent brownouts in the province, which needs “immediate
intervention by sending a power barge to Negros Occidental to
address the power shortage within the shortest possible time.”
The Department of Energy has
earlier monitored that for the month of April alone, Negros and
Panay, which are both on the receiving end of the Visayas power
grid, have experienced 23 days of brownout, due to power shortage
and the current rehabilitation of the Palinpinon Geothermal Power
Plant.
These brownouts have led to
“tremendous losses” among businesses and have disrupted
operations of government agencies such as the new Bacolod-Silay
Airport and the National Bureau of Investigation.
Zayco said the power barges might
be the only solution for now, but added that the provinces are
exhausting all efforts to look at other long-term solutions in view
of a more serious power shortage in 2010.
One other option, although the
Diocese of Bacolod is strongly opposed to it, is the geothermal
expansion development program of the Philippine National
Corporation-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) at the Mount Kanlaon
National Park.
Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra
has been very vocal about his opposition to further exploration in
the remaining forest reserve in the province, as “this will affect
the biodiversity.”
This, despite constant assurance
from PNOC-EDC, that only a minimal 0.1 percent of the entire
protected area will be affected.
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