• CHERYL G. CRUZ
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is scheduled to visit Siquijor today, June 11, to meet with officials and stakeholders, discuss the ongoing power crisis, and identify a more permanent solution.
Provincial Administrator, Atty. Dale Tudtud, told the Philippine News Agency that various sectors are now looking to the President for swift intervention to address the constant power outages.
“We are thankful that President Marcos will be visiting our province and talking to stakeholders so he can have firsthand information on the power interruptions, visit the power plant, and see the actual situation on the island,” he said.
Governor Jake Vincent Villa will present a briefer to Marcos on the historical context of Siquijor’s power issues and the pressing need to increase the island’s power allocation, Tudtud added.
Villa said in a statement June 10 that he will “push for sustainable short term and long-term actions” regarding the power crisis in the island-province, with the arrival of concerned national officials June 11.
“Various top officials in the national government have heard our call, and listened to the plight of our people. They will be coming here to see firsthand the problematic power situation that has plagued this island for the past months,” Villa said as the Palace reported that Marcos already ordered a full investigation into the Siquijor Island Power Cooperative (Sipcor) amid continuing power outages in the province.
June 11 “is the day that we finally get a clear and concrete solution, as we will definitely push for sustainable short term and long-term actions for our energy crisis. We will prevail,” Villa said.
A state of calamity declaration was announced last week after the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council passed a resolution for its recommendation, which was also approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
“This call for a state of calamity is a collective effort from people, who can no longer suffer in silence from the lack of accountability of our power providers,” Villa said. “They have kept us waiting with their inaction and empty words. Our power provider has repeatedly thrown us timelines that were never met and promises that were never kept.”
Left with no other feasible options, the province had no choice but to call for this state of calamity, the governor stressed. “We can stay silent no longer. June 11 will be a defining moment for our province.”
He said that as an off-grid island, the failure to meet the minimum demands set from the power agreements may not seem significant to these companies.
“But their lapses have wide-reaching effects to our people,” Villa said. “A lack of electricity means a lack of basic necessities like water and connectivity, and risk Siquijodnon jobs and even lives.”
Tudtud earlier told the PNA that since September 2024, the island started having more brownouts that lasted 10 hours or longer with the power provider, Prosielco (Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative Inc.) and power supplier Sipcor, “passing the blame between themselves”.
In recent days, power outages across the province would last up to 10 or more hours, with Prosielco citing reasons, like breakdown of generators or operational maintenance activities, he added.
The current needs of Siquijor would ideally run up to nine megawatts on peak days, but with the current situation, the island sometimes has less than 5MW distributed to electric consumers, he said.
The Department of Energy, in a statement to PNA, had said a joint assessment of concerned agencies “determined that a combination of technical, operational, and regulatory issues is preventing the full utilization of Sipcor’s generating capacity.”
The DOE said that while Sipcor has an installed capacity of 11.580MW, only 8.816 MW is currently contracted to the Prosielco. “These limitations have contributed to recurring power interruptions, exposing a gap between the available supply and the actual demand in the province, which already reached 10.51MW.” | CGC
