EDITORIAL - Cebu needs large energy base

There is really a need for authorities to look into the real score of the country’s power supply. This after millions were recently held hostage by a massive power interruption sweeping across the Visayas for hours.    

Today, the Philippines just cannot afford to suffer the same fate during the “darkest days” in 1992 when a limited power supply plunged the country into an economically devastating series of blackouts.

Good thing the new president, Fidel V, Ramos, was able to solve the power crisis. The struggling economy was back on track, and it quickly showed signs of recovery. But not after the power shortage gave the business sector a hell of a ride with prospective investors shunning the country.

As the country races towards achieving the coveted status of Asia’s newest tiger, power stability plays a crucial role in sustaining the economic growth. While the economy soared to a 30-year high 7.1 percent growth in 2007, there is certainly a need to sustain the momentum.

 But without stable power supply, economic activity will surely lessen and the momentum will hit a snag. Foreign investors will then again have to think twice before pouring in their investments.

In the local scene, Cebu has been dependent on power sources from other areas for decades. To feed its economy, the island needs to have not only a stable power supply. It needs to have an ample power reserve to sustain its growing economy brought about by massive investments.

Therefore, Cebu cannot forever rely on power supply from Leyte or other areas to keep its economic turbine turning. Cebu has to establish a large energy base in its own backyard, a stock that would amply cater to the growing power demand as it mutates into the country’s next commercial hub.

There have been a few power plant projects now being undertaken in the cities of Naga and Toledo to boost the province’s energy supply. Once operational, however, their total output will not be enough to meet the province’s skyrocketing power demands in years to come.

Cebuanos must learn to live through its own energy source if they are to survive in the race towards industrialization. Permanent reliance on energy from outside sources cannot help realize their dreams of achieving eventual prosperity.