Sanity lost

THU, APRIL 14, 2016 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR 

(Re-published with friendly permission from the publisher)

EDITORIAL

Dabawenyos are not particularly in the right mood at this time so be careful when dealing with them. Some are walking around like zombies after spending hours without sleep, waiting for precious power to come back so they can finally go to sleep, if that makes sense at all. Others are in the mood to rant, and most of it directed towards the people in the power industry. The social media, especially Facebook, is filled with rants and memes making a mockery of the city’s power providers. Some even mocked the city’s “life is here” slogan with memes saying “but light is not here.” Except for lack of water, nothing can rile people the most than long hours of power interruption.

Business is seriously affected with losses estimated at millions a day. The Davao Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. has not yet made an assessment as to how much its members are losing since the rotating brownouts started several days ago. Big businesses are bound to lose big time. But then again, small businesses suffer more even if they have smaller losses because they have little capital to start with and most are operating on the red. With these long brownouts, some of these businesses can close down even before Therma South Inc. gets its act together, or even before the heavens shower us with lots of rain.

The Davao Light and Power Company asked Dabawenyos to be more patient as they only have to bear with the five-hour rotating power interruptions until April 21 when TSI 1 gets repaired. However, there is still no reason to do the rain dance and rejoice because even if the coal-fired power plant is back full operation, there will still be brownouts albeit shortened to three hours. Now people are starting to question Davao City’s claim as the best place to invest in and do business. After all, El Niño is nothing new so those in the power industry should have known how to address its effects on power generation a long time ago. While people are worried about the billions of losses in the economy, perhaps we should be more worried about people losing their sanity.

Power Crisis in Mindanao - And No Ending?

It's summer again. Temperatures are still rising. Rain is seldom. Especially in Mindanao we have to live with several power interruptions - or, as it is called here "brownouts" (blackouts)! This is not new. I am living in Davao City since 1999...

Now we all have been informed, that the Mindanao Development Authority said that President Benigo Aquino has taken decisive action on the Mindanao power problem.

The first step was that President Aquino was set to meet with power industry stakeholders in Mindanao, including key local leaders in the island, to firm up parallel tracks of immediate and medium to long term solutions to the Mindanao power problem. The President wanted to personally convey specific measures taken by the government and the proposed steps needed to secure a reliable and sustainable Mindanao power generation. 

Also Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III is calling on his fellow legislators from Mindanao to gather and act as one in coming up with solutions to the ongoing power crisis. The worsening power outages in Mindanao could lead to eight-hours  power interruptions for a year or two.. Of course, it is leading already to a sharp decline in economy activities that might lead to losses of jobs and livelihood. And, this will heighten poverty in some Mindanao provinces and may create indeed pressures that may spark disruptions in Mindanao's peace and order. 

The Mindanao power problem is very known since long time. We need to see deeds. But I am afraid, that the daily rotation brownouts like those we experienced from February to June in 2010 and also 2011 are expected to be implemented any time next month.