RP urged to invest in power plant rehabilitation

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) director Ramon Mitra said the Philippines needs to invest in the rehabilitation of power plants and look at ways to build new facilities for more efficient services.

Mitra said the prevailing brownouts in Luzon makes it imperative for the government to stay focused on issues relating to power.

The third son and namesake of the late House Speaker reminded the people of economic impact of these power shortages during the previous administrations. “We should not allow ourselves to be dragged that way again. This is a serious matter, rotating brownouts are cause for alarm and we need to look into this and make it a priority in the next administration,” he said.

Several parts of Metro Manila and adjacent areas experienced two-hour rotating brownouts because of a breakdown at one of Sual’s power plant units.

“Often the cause of brownouts is the failure of our facilities and the inefficiency or lack of back-up facilities, just like what happened at the Sual plant which caused the brownouts,” Mitra said.

He underscored the need to encourage investments in renewable energy and this needs changes in government policies and revolutionary strategies in the distribution network of power.

“We need to give incentives to investments and good performances in services, we need to be decisive in these things because brownouts are serious cause for alarm especially in a thriving economy,” he said. 

Mitra said the Philippines has a lot of resources like natural gas from his native Palawan. 

He said the country has “banked gas” or natural gas owned and paid for by the government that just needs to be utilized.