BAGUIO CITY (PIA) –The Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) has deployed a team of its “warriors of light” to assist in restoring power to the disaster-stricken provinces of Cagayan and Apayao.
BENECO General Manager Melchor Licoben led the send-off an 11-man team composed of linemen and technical personnel to help in the restoration of the areas damaged by Typhoon Marce within the franchise of Cagayan II Electric Cooperative, Inc (CAGELCO II) on Nov. 10.
Following a briefing at the CAGELCO II Libertad Sub-Office in Abulug, Cagayan upon arrival, BENECO team was immediately dispatched to the town of Ballesteros in Cagayan, according to Team Leader Engr. Percival Aspillan.
Despite the threat of tropical cyclone Nika, Aspillan said they started replacing broken poles and conducted correction of leaning primary poles of the CAGELCO II backbone lines downed by typhoon Marce.
The team will also deployed in the towns of Abulug and Aparri West in Cagayan, and in the municipalities of Flora, Luna, Pudtol and Sta. Marcela in Apayao, which are also under the coverage of CAGELCO II.
Aspillan, who also led BENECO’s task forces to Abra, Albay, Catanduanes and Leyte, said that the BENECO team brought its own equipment, gasoline, food, first aid kits and other necessary logistics needed for its 15-day operations in Cagayan and Apayao.
The team is expected to be deployed with the CAGELCO II until November 26, 2024.
CAGELCO II sought assistance from other cooperatives through the “Task Force Kapatid” following the widespread devastation caused by the Typhoon Marce on the cooperative’s distribution lines.
The distribution utility reported that Marce has left parts of Cagayan and Apayao provinces in complete blackout since over the weekend after severe winds knocked down power poles and lines.
Initial assessments of the CAGELCO II show severe damages to lateral and primary lines due to the typhoon’s powerful gusts which affected the residents from the 20 municipalities across Cagayan and four towns in Apayao under the CAGELCO II.
Licoben said that the Task Force Kapatid is a special unit of technical workers strategically deployed by electric cooperatives’ regional organizations in coordination with the National Electrification Administration and PHILRECA or the of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association, Inc. to assist the electric coops in the power restoration and rehabilitation of facilities damaged by calamities.
He said Baguio and Benguet suffered minimal damages from the typhoon which enabled BENECO to send some of its “warriors of light” to Cagayan.
Aside from BENECO, other electric cooperatives in Region 2 such as ISELCO 1 and 2, NUVELCO, and QUIRELCO sent their line workers to provide mutual aid assistance to CAGELCO. (JDP/RMC- PIA CAR /BENECO)
