Period of Oro’s weekend blackouts not yet over

By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

THE period of weekend blackouts crippling different areas in the city is not yet over. The Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. (Cepalco) has announced another round of power interruptions on Sunday.

Expect a total of 23 hours of blackouts to affect parts of Tablon, Kauswagan, Bonbon and Bayabas.

Cepalco said a 6 am to 6 pm blackout has been scheduled in Tablon on Sunday to facilitate stringing works for its 69-kv short lines project at Nestle Philippines Inc..

One-hour and 30-minute blackouts because of switching procedures would affect neighboring areas up to Agora in Lapasan in the morning and in the afternoon.

Cepalco also announced an 11-hour blackout the same day because of a similar line work from Puntod to Kauswagan.

The power interruption would affect parts of Kauswagan, and all of Bonbon and Bayabas.

Cepalco said one-hour and 30-minute blackouts because of switching procedures would also affect some areas in Kauswagan in the morning and in the afternoon.

The long hours of weekend blackouts that have been hitting the city since last month have been scheduled, according to Cepalco senior vice president Ralph Paguio.

Paguio said the power interruptions were merely due to line maintenance works.

Some of the blackouts, he said, were also synchronized with the scheduled works of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) on its power substations.

Based on the Cepalco website, the blackouts of Nov. 13, 16, 18, 20, 25, 26, 27, and Dec. 3 and 4 were all scheduled.

Elizabeth Ladaga of the NGCP said there were times when Cepalco merely “rode on” on the power interruptions scheduled by NGCP. She cited the Nov. 26 blackout that was the result of the commissioning of the NGCP’s new power substation in Opol, Misamis Oriental.

But Mae Roselle Curiano, NGCP regional communication and public affairs officer, said the NGCP had no blackout schedule after Nov. 26. She said this would be the case until New Year’s Day.

Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr., chairman of the city council’s committee on energy,  said he would meet with Cepalco, NGCP and Napocor officials to make sure that the city would be blackout-free during the holidays.