Bantayan gets temporary relief from looming power crisis

CEBU, Philippines - Bantayan Island residents heaved a sigh of relief as the fuel supplier of their power generator extended their supply until June 15 instead of today, upon the intervention of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

The Bantayan Electric Cooperative (Banelco) and Bantayan Power Corp. (Bipcor) reportedly failed to settle around P30 million of their unpaid fuel bills to Petron Corp.

 This prompted Petron to give Bantayan’s power producers until today to settle the said amount.

Garcia met representatives of Bipcor and Petron last Tuesday to let them know that the Province of Cebu is trying to come up with a solution but this may take time.

The governor told reporters yesterday that she was able to get the parties to agree that the deadline be moved to June 15 to deliver fuel provided that on the said date, the obligation will also be settled.

She assured that they are doing their best to intervene.

“We have worked with NPC before and I think we can work together with NPC again in this particular situation together with Bipcor and Banelco,” Garcia said.

The Province of Cebu worked with the National Power Corporation (NPC) in solving the same situation with the Camotes Island Electric Cooperative (Celco) in which the cooperative was allowed to avail of a loan from the Capitol.

Garcia is set to meet today with NPC chairman Froilan Tampingco to discuss possible solutions to prevent the power shutdown in Bantayan Island.

The mayors of the towns of Bantayan, Madridejos and Santa Fe, which comprises the island, will also attend the meeting together with the representatives from Banelco, Bipcor and the Energy Regulatory Commission.

Garcia pointed out that unlike the situation in Camotes Island, there are a lot of issues involved in Bantayan Island that have to be resolved.

One of which is the cash flow in order for Bipcor to purchase fuel requirements for the operation to continue and avoid power outages.

 Garcia said the immediate issue to be addressed is on how to prevent power outages which will directly affect the tourism, marine, hog and egg industries and even the lives of the residents. —(FREEMAN)