Power outage hits Cotabato

COTABATO CITY ,Philippines  – The entire city and dozens of towns in nearby Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao was hit by a major power outage yesterday as a vital power relay tower in Kabacan, North Cotabato fell after its foundation was weakened by floodwaters.

Crisante Ferolino, general manager of the Cotabato Light and Power Co. (CLPC), which serves Cotabato City and Maguindanao’s neighboring Sultan Kudarat and Datu Odin towns, said sectional rationing of power was initiated while efforts to restore the tower are underway.

He said they could supply only about 50 percent of the whole franchise area, which consists of about 300,000 households, using their standby generators.

“In the meantime, we ration electricity so everybody can at least have power for four or five hours,” he said.

The fallen steel pylon of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) carries the 69-kilovolt (kv) line from Kabacan to Simuay substation, which supplies Cotabato City and Maguindanao with power.

“The transmission tower is located along the Lumayong River and it fell early Monday which also affected nearby transmission towers,” the NGCP said in a statement. 

Ferolino said the CLPC usually gets its supply from the NGCP Tacurong station when power from Kabacan-Simuay transmission line is off or out of service.

But he said the Tacurong station is also encountering problems that it could not provide extra power to Maguin­danao Electric Cooperative and Cotabato City.