MANILA, (PIA) -- Senator Win Gatchalian has filed a resolution seeking to investigate the power outage that crippled Western Visayas region for a few days at the start of the year.

The senator filed Senate Resolution 891, joining other senators’ call for an inquiry into the power interruption in Western Visayas that virtually put Western Visayas into a standstill for a few days early this month. Specifically, Gatchalian wants to review the material portions of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and other relevant laws, including the franchise of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), to further prevent blackouts and ensure reliable and continuous electric power supply in the country.

Gatchalian said that the Senate must assess whether it is necessary to remove the NGCP’s systems operation function and give it to another entity. According to him, separating NGCP’s systems operation function would enable the agency to focus on its transmission network provider function.

“The national grid is the sole backbone for transmitting electricity across the country, and any failure to operate has wide-ranging effects on the economy, public safety, and national security,” he said.

The prolonged power outage in Panay has forced the suspension of classes in at least 733 public schools and higher education institutions for two days. Further, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas also claimed the city may have lost up to P1.5 billion in three days following the massive blackout.

Gatchalian noted that the Department of Energy (DOE) has stated that the island-wide blackout was preventable since there was a 2-hour window when NGCP could have proactively called on the distribution utilities in Panay to reduce their load to prevent a sub-system-wide collapse.

The DOE also suggested that the congressional inquiry should delve on the need to vest the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) with the authority to impose a P2 million administrative fine on the transmission concessionaire per day of regulatory rules violation or 1 percent of the cost of delayed projects based on the ERC-approved project cost and the need to review NGCP’s special tax privilege of paying only a 3 percent franchise tax in lieu of other national and local taxes. (PIA-NCR)