• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The proposed creation of a Negros Island power development coordinating council got the support of electric power stakeholders that attended the forum, organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) March 20 in Bacolod City.
Frank Carbon, co-chair of the PCCI Energy and Power Committee, and vice president of the MBCCI Governmental Affairs, told the Negros NOW Daily that forum participants were 100-percent supportive of the proposed council.
Carbon said he will present the draft to the Committee on Infrastructure of the Negros Occidental Provincial Development Council (PDC) on Friday, March 22, chaired by Sagay City Mayor Narciso Javelosa Jr.
“I will discuss the draft with Mayor Javelosa, hopefully may decision during the meeting on Friday, or next meeting, then it will be forwarded to the PDC for a resolution,” said Carbon, who is the co-chair of the Committee representing the business sector.
He added that they will then forward the NegOcc PDC resolution to the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Dumaguete City, so the latter could also push or lobby for a similar measure from the Oriental PDC.
Carbon said the electric power forum was aimed at instilling and emphasizing the need for an anticipatory and developmental mindset, and then institutionalizing that mindset through the coordinating council.
“We should be proactive and anticipatory” when it comes to the power situation. “Indi puwede na we will only react kung may problema, kung may blackout. There is need to come together,” he said, adding that the power development coordinating council would be the legal personality for that.
“The primordial function of the council is to meet regularly and assess the power situation in the Island, and prepare recommendations to improve the power outlook,” Carbon had said in his letter-invite to the forum.
The forum was attended by executives and representatives from the Department of Energy, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, Aboitiz Power, More Power, and of the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, among others.
Discussions focused on the power development plan for Negros and Panay, and projects in the pipeline; the role of the power generators in the power supply chain; the role of the delivery systems, both transmission and distribution; ancillary services; and the role of the distribution utilities, private and electric cooperatives, in the delivery system. | CGC
