Representatives from various congressional districts in Western Visayas are calling for an investigation-in-aid of legislation on the power outage that plunged Panay and Guimaras into darkness and also affected portions of Negros Occidental.

As of Friday, Iloilo Reps. Julienne Baronda, Michael B. Gorriceta, Lorenz R. Defensor, Raul C. Tupas, and Ferjenel G. Biron signed a resolution calling for an investigation into the widespread power outage and to make those responsible face accountability.

Representatives from Negros Occidental and Guimaras and Ilonggo Uswag Partylist are also expected to sign the same.

Earlier, Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin called for a congressional probe into the widespread blackout and urged that those responsible should face accountability, stressing the severe impact on people’s lives and economic activities.

“There is an urgent need to conduct an inquiry and investigation on the occurrences of these power outages so that an immediate solution to address the issue be formulated and for Congress to adopt the necessary legislative measures to prevent the same from happening again,” part of the resolution said.

Baronda said in a statement Friday that the Committee on Energy would continue with the hearing of the April 2023 blackout despite Congress being on a break.

The hearing is set for Jan. 11, and this time would include the massive power failure that occurred on Jan. 2.

“This is a better option so that we can look into the power blackouts at the soonest time and would be able to elicit answers from the responsible entities,” she said.

Meantime, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Aklan chapter passed a resolution on Thursday appealing for a reliable, accessible, and affordable power supply.

In the resolution furnished to the Philippine News Agency, the PCCI claimed that the prolonged outages “severely” affected the public and forced many shops and small and medium businesses in Boracay island to cut short their operations.

“PCCI-Aklan urged our provincial government and congressional district officials for a meaningful dialogue with the stakeholders,” part of the resolution said.

The PCCI hoped by bringing stakeholders they would know the reasons behind the power interruptions and look for sustainable action plans and solutions to prevent the same from happening in the future.

NGCP, in its noon advisory on Friday, said it was removing the restriction of demand and fully restoring loads at Panay Island with the synchronization of the Palm Concepcion Power Corporation (PCPC) to the grid.

“As of this advisory, 347.2 MW (megawatts) is being served by Panay power plants, with 5.7MW exported elsewhere to the grid, for a total of 341.4MW served loads,” it said.

More Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) announced as of 12:31 p.m., electricity in all its residential feeders was restored following the stabilization of the grid system in Panay. (PNA)

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