Senator Rafael T. Tulfo in an announcement last August 3 is set to summon or even file charges against officials of inefficient power cooperatives that fail to deliver reliable and low-cost services to the countryside.

In the local parlance, people call it “brownout”. And brownout is a common occurrence and almost ingrained in the fabric of daily life in the best Island in the World. That is why most of the hotels and resorts in the island including Puerto Princesa City have generators to compensate for the frequency of brownouts and avoid complaints from guests.

Special mention on his statement was Palawan, Bataan and Davao as the senator who is also the Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee said, “I will make sure that I take immediate action on the problems faced by the people, especially the frequent brownouts in the provinces including Palawan, Bataan and Davao.”

Among the points of concern he raised are the frequent rotational power interruptions and the high power costs. PALECO or Palawan Electric Cooperative is the power distributor of mainland Palawan and BISELCO or Busuanga Island Electric Cooperative is the power distributor in the Calamianes Islands.

Although he did not name names, Senator Tulfo, who is known as having a tough stance on issues about ordinary people said, “If we need to summon, we will summon the capitalist politicians, who, more often than not, are partners or directors of electric cooperatives that cause frequent brownout in the provinces.

He also raised the possibility of raising charges against those politicians and officials of power cooperatives responsible for the power outages and high power charges even if they are his friends.

“Because that’s my promise to the Filipinos who voted for me that once I’ll get elected as a senator, I’ll make sure that all the problems they bring to me will be heard in the Senate,” Tulfo who won on the platform of solving common problems faced by the people through his tv program, Isumbong mo kay Tulfo said.

The Senator got the third highest number of votes in the 2022 Elections having garnered 25 million votes.

The outcome of this fix-the-power supply crusade still remains uncertain as the former President Rodrigo Duterte also tried to fix the power interruption mess but was unsuccessful until the end of his term despite the tough rhetoric and iron fisted approach.

We support this advocacy but we cannot promise to follow 24/7 as we are constantly being interrupted by brownouts.

Stable power supply and power rates are practically the main considerations when prospective investors evaluate whether to put up a business or not in a certain locality. Next to that are ease of opening up a business and regulatory hurdles including red tape etc..

Several priority bills are in the pipeline in the Energy Committee of the 19th congress which includes Senate Bill 358 or the Proposed Recoverable System Loss Act, Senate Bill 151 or the proposed Waste to Energy Act and Senate Bill 156 or the proposed Energy Advocate Act.