Blackout in Central Visayas causes P100-M damage to firms, exec says
Manila Bulletin
May 12, 2006
CEBU CITY - The blackout that hit Cebu and parts of Central Visayas on Wednesday has caused damage of at least R100 million to businesses and factories who were forced to shut down and allow their workers to go home due to the lack of power.
Robert Go, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry governor for the Visayas, said that most of those affected were small businesses which do not have standby power generators, although there were still big businesses and factories who were also hit.
Go said the blackout showed that most businesses in Cebu don’t have standby power generators that can be used in an event similar to what happened the other day. Because the businesses don’t have generators, the production was stopped and workers were sent home, causing financial loss.
Although the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has not conducted an inventory on the affected companies, he said, the amount of damages could reach more than R100 million.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña described the blackout as a bad signal for would-be investors. He said everyone concerned should always be ready for similar incident.
Meanwhile, Ben Ypil, spokesman of the Transmission Corp. (Transco) said yesterday the supply of power in the Visayas was already back to normal, adding that the Visayas grid has even started supplying power to Luzon.
Ypil said it would have been better if provinces or islands were self-sustaining in terms of power to avert similar blackouts in the future.
The PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) has informed the Department of Energy that initial assessment of possible damage is already ongoing.
The National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the electric cooperatives in the earthquake-affected areas have already dispatched their linemen to monitor the extent of the power outage and damage to distribution lines.
The power outage was triggered by an earthquake of tectonic origin that hit the Province of Leyte. Leyte hosts major geothermal plants in Southern Leyte that account for about 45 percent of generation capacity in the Visayas grid.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported that the earthquake’s magnitude was Intensity IV in Tongonan, Leyte and Intensity III in Ormoc, Leyte. It might be caused by the Leyte segment of the Philippine fault line, it said.
May 12, 2006
CEBU CITY - The blackout that hit Cebu and parts of Central Visayas on Wednesday has caused damage of at least R100 million to businesses and factories who were forced to shut down and allow their workers to go home due to the lack of power.
Robert Go, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry governor for the Visayas, said that most of those affected were small businesses which do not have standby power generators, although there were still big businesses and factories who were also hit.
Go said the blackout showed that most businesses in Cebu don’t have standby power generators that can be used in an event similar to what happened the other day. Because the businesses don’t have generators, the production was stopped and workers were sent home, causing financial loss.
Although the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has not conducted an inventory on the affected companies, he said, the amount of damages could reach more than R100 million.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña described the blackout as a bad signal for would-be investors. He said everyone concerned should always be ready for similar incident.
Meanwhile, Ben Ypil, spokesman of the Transmission Corp. (Transco) said yesterday the supply of power in the Visayas was already back to normal, adding that the Visayas grid has even started supplying power to Luzon.
Ypil said it would have been better if provinces or islands were self-sustaining in terms of power to avert similar blackouts in the future.
The PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) has informed the Department of Energy that initial assessment of possible damage is already ongoing.
The National Electrification Administration (NEA) and the electric cooperatives in the earthquake-affected areas have already dispatched their linemen to monitor the extent of the power outage and damage to distribution lines.
The power outage was triggered by an earthquake of tectonic origin that hit the Province of Leyte. Leyte hosts major geothermal plants in Southern Leyte that account for about 45 percent of generation capacity in the Visayas grid.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported that the earthquake’s magnitude was Intensity IV in Tongonan, Leyte and Intensity III in Ormoc, Leyte. It might be caused by the Leyte segment of the Philippine fault line, it said.
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