THE House Committee on Legislative Franchises chaired by Parañaque City Second District Rep. Gus Tambunting met on Monday to check the overall preparedness of concerned government agencies against the projected impacts of the La Niña phenomenon.
“The committee continues to monitor the performance of its power franchise grantees, especially in these times. Most recently, it has been brought to the attention of this committee that power outages continue to affect the safety and security of our constituents. This past weekend alone, franchise grantee National Grid Corporation of the Philippines reported power interruptions in various areas in the country,” Tambunting said.
Officials from the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and National Electrification Administration (NEA) briefed committee members on the effects of La Niña, a weather phenomenon characterized by above-normal rainfall, in the Philippines.
Tambunting noted that above-average rainfall brings about serious flooding, landslides and severe infrastructural and agricultural damage, necessitating that all industries, especially public utilities, to be ready and able to proactively address the concerns of its customers.
He added that power outages affect businesses, health, education and overall safety of households.
DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan presented several policy recommendations to boost the energy sector’s preparedness for the onset of La Niña, which include: 1) provision of solar electrification or mobile generator sets, or solar power systems in critical facilities, such as evacuation centers, hospitals, telecommunication facilities, government buildings, water pumping stations, among others; 2) enhancement of resiliency standards of transmission and distribution facilities to strengthen infrastructures against natural calamities based on the Build Back Better principle; 3) review of the policy on stockpiling and prepositioning of electric cooperatives for disaster response; 4) oil sector to formulate a protocol on supply rationing during disasters; 5) institutionalization of Task Force Kapatid membership and management; and 6) review of Republic Act 11039, or the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency Fund, and other sources of funds (Quick Response Fund) for disaster operations, among others.
NEA Deputy Administrator for Legal Services Atty. Rosann Rosero-Lee reported NEA’s promulgation of pertinent issuances and memoranda to electric cooperatives relative to its preparedness to address disasters and calamities.
Director Eric Campoto, department manager of the NEA Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department, said other preparations are being made for the projected impacts of La Niña, which may emerge in the October-November-December 2024 season at 55 percent probability and may persist until the first quarter of 2025, based on climate forecasts.
According to Campoto, these contingency measures are found in NEA’s technical advisories, which recommends expediting of clearing activities during the dry season, as well as submission of vulnerability and risk assessment plans, mitigation plans and emergency response plans, among others.
Rochelle Moreno, Chief Energy Regulation Officer of the ERC Licensing and Market Monitoring Division, said the ERC has issued licenses to new generation facilities to increase the power grid capacity.
Moreno added that the ERC also monitors outages in the operation of these generation facilities.
“The Committee on Legislative Franchises, with its mandate, must ensure that the privilege of a franchise is given to those who are at all times capable and committed to working for the good of the Filipino people. As always, it is the common good that the committee continues to strive for in this process,” Tambunting stressed.
