Olongapo City gets reprieve from power cutoff

MANILA, Philippines - Residents of Olongapo City got a reprieve from a total power outage yesterday when energy officials put off the city’s scheduled disconnection from the national grid.

Zambales Rep. Jeffrey Khonghun and city officials led by Mayor Rolen Paulino met with Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., who agreed to postpone cutting off the city’s power supply.

Khonghun and Olongapo officials thanked Petilla and Ledesma for their “compassion and understanding.”

Aside from agreeing to postpone disconnecting the city’s power supply, energy officials decided to meet again this week with Paulino and other Olongapo leaders to discuss how the city could pay more than P5 billion in electricity bills that have piled up over the past nine years.

Khonghun said they have to come up with a debt restructuring-payment program acceptable to both parties so that Olongapo would continue enjoying its power supply.

“Our meeting (with Petilla and Ledesma) presents an overwhelming leap that can be a source of optimism for the people of Olongapo,” he said.

He blamed the administration of former three-term mayor James Gordon Jr. for the city’s unpaid electricity bills.

He said Gordon and other former city officials have a lot of explaining to do.

“We were able to convey to Secretary Petilla that Olongapo is not running away from this obligation, despite the glaring fact that the P5.08-billion debt was left behind by the previous administration,” he added. – With Paolo Romero