TAGUIG CITY, Mar. 16 — Following the issuance of the Commission on Elections Resolution No. 10067, members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Securing Energy Facilities (headed by the Department of Energy) are deputized to provide sufficient personnel to secure power assets nationwide and enforce measures to ensure power supply for the national elections this May.
The task force will also implement the clearing of obstructions (trees, infrastructures, etc.) beneath the transmission facilities. They will safeguard transmission Tower No. 25, located along the Agus 2-Kibawe 138kV line, which will enable its rehabilitation to continue.
These measures are in response to the earlier bombing incidents and right-of-way issues compromising the power supply security in Mindanao grid (which caused the isolation of Agus 1 and Agus 2 Hydro Power Plants), depriving Mindanao customers with 82 megawatts of generation capacity, which resulted in power trippings and rotating outages in some provinces.
The task force assures the public that it is exhausting all legal means for the speedy resolution of the nationwide transmission concerns beyond the election period to ensure sustained economic growth for the entire country.
Local government units as well as the private sector were called upon for continued cooperation and vigilance in ensuring security and integrity of all energy facilities. Likewise, all electricity consumers are encouraged to observe energy efficiency and conservation in their day-to-day activities.
The IATFSEF was formed to prevent any similar untoward incidents to occur in the future and to facilitate immediate restoration of the damaged transmission Tower No. 25, which was aggravated by the denial of the claimants of the property, where the power assets are located, to allow the restoration team to conduct preventive maintenance and rehabilitation of the affected transmission facilities. (DOE/gov.ph)