Electricity users in power-strapped Mindanao are up in arms against government plans to build more coal-fired plants to relieve the critical energy shortage, warning that these would lock the island into a polluting source of power. The warning was sounded ahead of the energy summit in Davao City at the weekend by the environmentalist foundation, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, which claimed that contracts had been prepared to allow the construction of coal plants which are reported to be “more expensive, dirty, and nonrenewable power.” Read the rest of this entry »

Mindanao is now experiencing frequent power failures. Given the nature of the problem, the situation is expected to get worse before it gets better. That should not come as a surprise. As early as two years ago, energy experts have been predicting such power outages in Mindanao and the Visayas. Yet, the government has failed to do its job. Read the rest of this entry »

DAVAO CITY — The blackouts lasting for six hours or more belie the Energy Department’s claim that Mindanao only experiences 30 minutes to 2 hours of power outages a  day, says a resolution passed by the Kidapawan City Council.

Energy Undersecretary Josefina Patricia Asirit on Tuesday said that the media had blown the power crisis in Mindanao out of proportions, claiming there were no 10, 12- or 15-hour blackouts on the island during a pre-energy summit forum at the Grand Regal Hotel in Davao City. Read the rest of this entry »

Power consumers in Mindanao will have to bear electricity rates that are higher by as much as 50 centavos per kilowatthour with the government’s plan to use power barges which uses expensive fuel as a stop-gap solution to the brewing power crisis in the region, Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »

If I am writing a lot about Mindanao these days, it’s because I’m thoroughly convinced of its vital importance to the nation. I see that island region as the focal point and driver of the entire Philippine economy in the near future, if it is not already. Mindanao has in fact managed to outgrow the rest of the Philippine economy in recent periods. In 2009, the latest year for which regional growth data are available, Mindanao’s economy grew nearly four times faster (3.8 percent) than the overall economy did (0.9 percent). And with its multi-faceted endowments—spanning not only economic but also social and cultural assets inherent to the island region—there is much basis to expect Mindanao to pace the growth of the overall Philippine economy. Read the rest of this entry »

SEVERAL lawmakers from Mindanao are demanding immediate government action on the worsening power crisis on the island, saying the power crisis there was artificial and deliberately caused.

Energy officials were “in cahoots with unscrupulous businessmen who are out to make huge profits from the recurrent [blackouts], Agham party list Rep. Angelo Palmones said. Read the rest of this entry »

The Energy Department will issue a directive next week that will free up 300 megawatts of power supply to plug the deficit in Mindanao but consumers will have to brace for higher power rates, a government official said Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »

DAVAO CITY ,Philippines  – Local officials in Mindanao have accused the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) of creating an artificial power shortage by scheduling daily blackouts of up to 12 hours. Read the rest of this entry »

The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) is seeking a congressional inquiry on the rotating daily power outages in the island, which “should not be that (bad) because there is an untapped 65 megawatts from state-owned hydropower plants,” an official said. Read the rest of this entry »

Daily power outages in southern Philippines now last much longer than the two to four hours that were earlier reported.

Lualhati Antonino, the chairman of the Mindanao Development Authority, on Monday said that the hardest hit in Mindanao by the rotating brownouts of six to eight hours every day is SOCCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato City, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City). Read the rest of this entry »