The three suspects — Wilmor Avenue, 19; Gualberto Flores, 46; and Ronnie Suarez, 30 — were caught red-handed while loading the cables into a passenger jeepney. Four of their cohorts managed to escape.
Senior Superintendent Leonilo de la Cruz, Laguna police director, said police and barangay personnel apprehended the three in Barangay Halayhain in Siniloan town at about 1:30 a.m.
The cables seized from them, weighing about two tons, were said to be worth about P2.5 million.
National Power Corp. president Jesus Alcordo said the joint anti-pilferage operations of the PNP and the Napocor have prevented the loss of millions of pesos from the theft of cables as well as the massive brownouts this may cause.
"These are very serious problems that we are trying to address," said Energy Secretary and Napocor vice chairman Vicente Perez Jr.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina suggested that a higher penalty be imposed on pilferers whose acts, he said, pose a big threat to the economy.
The Tayabas-San Jose transmission line stretches from Tayabas, Quezon to San Jose, Bulacan. It carries power generated by the coal-fired and geothermal power plants in Southern Luzon and Leyte, to Metro Manila, Napocor said.
Perez said a similar pilferage along the Tayabas-San Jose line early this year eventually resulted in the collapse of a steel tower, partly blamed for a Luzon-wide system failure in April.
PNP officials said the normal operations of at least two steel towers worth P6 million each were affected by last Saturday’s pilferage.
Perez said pilferage of power cables results in a loss of potential revenue of about P10 million a day, excluding the cost of repair.
This year alone, Alcordo said Napocor lost 36 kilometers of power cables, worth about P10 million, to pilferers. — With Ed Amoroso