COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 27, 2014) – Power has been cut off early Thursday in the most part of Mindanao and authorities are investigating the cause of widespread outage that affect key areas in the southern region.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) could not explain the sudden blackout which began shortly before 4 a.m. It said electricity was restored in some areas – Davao City, General Santos City, Zamboanga City, Pagadian City, Cagayan de Oro City and parts of Misamis Oriental province – five hours later, but a large part of Mindanao is still without power.
The NGCP is a private corporation solely responsible for the operation and maintenance of the country’s power transmission network.
“The NGCP continues to monitor the situation in Mindanao. The NGCP is still determining the cause and is working to restore the power transmission service to all power customers in Mindanao,” it said.
The military said it has no reports of bombing of NGCP pylons in Mindanao.
“We have no reports about any bombings or attacks on steel pylons operated by the NGCP. We also do not know the cause of the blackout,” Capt. Alberto Caber, a spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
In Western Mindanao, Capt. Maria Rowena Myuela, a regional military spokesperson, said they also have no reports of any attacks on NGCP towers.
“We also have no reports about it, but we were told by the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative that the power outage was caused by an abnormal supply of electricity,” she said in a separate interview.
Earlier in February, suspected rebels bombed, but failed to topple a power pylon of the NGCP in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao province. The 6th Infantry Division blamed the attack on the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters who are waging a separatist war in the restive region of Mindanao.
Last September, rebels also blasted a steel pylon in the same town cutting electricity supply in several provinces. (Mindanao Examiner)
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