Blackout: Iloilo losing up to P500 million daily

MANILA, Philippines — Iloilo City stands to lose around between P400 million to P500 million daily – or P 1.5 billion in three days – following the massive blackout that hit Panay Island since Jan. 2.

“In three days, we would have lost P1.5 billion. What a way to start the new year!” Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said yesterday, referring to the figures estimated by the city’s Local Economic Development & Investment Promotion (LEDIP) office.

It used as basis Iloilo City’s annual gross domestic product or the total economic output of the city in one year, which stands at P145.05 billion.

“On the average, Iloilo City economy is at P347 million per day. But that was the data for 2022. Plus, we should also consider other intermediate and primary processes output that could also possibly contribute on our GDP,” LEDIP officer Velma Jane Lao said.

With the power outages, she said that the services sector is the hardest hit.

“Although residents have trooped to hotels and malls, these establishments have to ramp up their expenses on generator sets and fuel. Machines have bogged down. Restaurants have complained of food spoilage,” she said.

On the government side, Lao said they could not deliver their work well because of the unfavorable working conditions due to sweltering heat.

Treñas likewise described the current situation in Panay and some parts of Guimaras Island as “terrible,” lamenting that the improvement of transmission lines has been delayed several times.

“Now we are suffering because of these delays,” he said.

“The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines needs to shape up. Congress needs to investigate the matter and restudy their franchise. The national government through the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the President should use all the powers in their mandate to ensure that the transmission lines of NGCP should be improved at the earliest possible time,” he said.

Following another round of massive power outages, the DOE has reminded the NGCP to adhere to its responsibilities as system operator in ensuring supply security and reliability of the grid. It added that NGCP could have exercised, in a better manner, its