Pimentel says an energy development master plan
is needed to avert Mindanao's power crisis

Alarmed at the critical power crisis plaguing Mindanao in the last five years, Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III today said a comprehensive, energy development master plan is needed to turn adversity into an opportunity and make the region an attractive investment destination.

Pimentel said the proposed master plan should address the need for sustainable power supply, identifying rehabilitated hydropower plants, commissioning new generating companies, ensuring reliability of transmission lines and securing the efficiency of electric distributors.

Quoting industry sources, Pimentel said many local and foreign investors are interested in putting up new power plants in the country or upgrading old plants, especially in Mindanao, but there are no clear roadmap to off-takers, some of whom have taken a wait-and-see attitude.

He said there is need to streamline the government's business permits and licensing system, especially in the construction of generating plants, which require voluminous documents, and offer fresh incentives to attract more industry players.

While power was already deregulated, Pimentel said the national government has to take the lead for its efficiency and effectiveness because it regulates the operations of companies that produce, transmit and supply electricity to homes, offices and factories.

Another proposal which he said should be looked into is to strengthen the "market power" of electric cooperatives by allowing them to pool their resources together to enable them to attain economies of scale and improve production efficiencies.

He said the continuing outages would force business to slow down, dislocate vital public services, annoy millions of residents and scare away potential investors and tourists because of government's inability to plan and prepare for Mindanao's huge power needs.

Pimentel said chronic power shortages were identified by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as the "most binding constraints" to Mindanao's economic growth and power supply is a major driver to make the rich but underdeveloped region a robust business hub.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights said Mindanao has been experiencing under generation since 2010, but the Department of Energy (DOE) failed to resolve the outage and attract new industry players to put up the required additional power capacity.

Pimentel said the master plan will serve as the guidepost and road map on how to develop Mindanao's power industry that presently relies mainly on hydropower plants, many of which are already old and lack proper maintenance.

He also proposed for the reactivation of the old National Power Corporation (Napocor) as standby producer to support independent power producers in providing reserve and emergency power to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), operator of the transmission superhighway.

The power crisis in Mindanao, he said, is a matter of urgent concern that must be acted upon by the DOE quickly to prevent the return of the El Nino phenomenon three years ago when many areas in Mindanao were hit by eight to 10 hours of power interruptions almost daily.

"The government should always protect the interest of the public with uninterrupted and cheap power," said Pimentel, who enjoined DOE Secretary Jericho Petilla to direct his people to prepare the master plan for the short, medium, and long term power development strategy for Mindanao.

He also asked Petilla to make public the real cause of the massive blackout last Thursday to assuage the apprehension of the people of possible sabotage or the government's inability to maintain aging plants which tripped off, causing a cascading power outage.

Pimentel said that if the massive blackout was an indication of a worsening power crisis in the country, Mindanao would be the hardest hit in the coming summer months because the hydropower plants would be adversely affected by the low volume of water.

The hydropower plants account for more than 50 percent of Mindanao's total electricity requirements.