The rotating brownouts that catapulted into a total blackout last week will meet its final solution resulting in sufficient power supply, thus, assured President Pnoy to the 1.3 million Boholanos in a visit here last Thursday. He said before Dec. 24 the province would no longer experience prolonged brownouts, a pronouncement cheered by the business community here whose operations have been badly hurt by the provinciwide blackout since Nov. 8 when supertyphoon Yolanda battered the Visayas regions. "Ating inaasahan na sa Disyembre, bago ang Pasko, ay magkakaroon na tayo ng zero rotating brownout dito (We expect that by December, before Christmas, we will have zero rotating brownouts here)," President Aquino said in a speech he delivered before Boholanos. The President quoted Energy Sec. Jericho Petilla's assurance of “zero brownout” this Yuletide even as Bohol has suffered much from the devastating earthquake and still are enduring from the province-wide blackout since supertyphoon “Yolanda” hit the Visayas weeks back.

 “By December we have zero brownout, yan ang pasko ni Sec. Petilla sa inyo,” President Aquino said in front of the cheering crowd and towns officials at Lincod Livelihood Center, just a stone-throw-away from temporary Abatan Bridge linking the towns of  Maribojoc and Loon.  Earlier on, Petilla, the former Leyte governor, was quoted as saying by the news report that he would resign from his post if he cannot make Visayas, presumably including Bohol, lighted by Christmas Day.  The President who looked like he's in fighting mood after a barrage of criticisms against his government's slow pace of recovery of devastated Leyte province in the aftermath of the Nov. 8 supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name “Haiyan”) visited Bohol for the third time after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Bohol on October 15, 2013.  P-Noy said that the destruction of the supertyphoon had cost 200 powerline towers from geothermal plant in Leyte that have collapsed. The 400-megawatt of the 520MW was badly affected, he said during the few-minute press conference at Bohol Tropics Resort in Tagbilaran City.

Aquino, along with several Cabinet officials, returned to Bohol to check the status of rehabilitation efforts and bridges destroyed during the tremor. Aquino inspected the two bridges that were repaired after the killer quake -- the Tagbuane Bridge in the town of Alburquerque and Abatan Bridge in Brgy. Lincod in the town of Maribujoc. "Bakit temporary lang ang mga tulay na ito? Sinisuguro po nating mas ligtas at mas matibay ang mga permanenteng tulay na gagawin (I assure you that we will construct a sturdier and more permanent bridges)," he told residents. "Sa kasalukuyan, naibigay na po natin ang P65 million na ayuda para sa pagkukumpuni ng mga nasirang tahanan sa Maribojoc at Antiquerra (We have already given a P65 million aid for the construction and rehabilitation of damaged houses in the towns of Maribojoc and Antiquerra)," he added. Aquino also said the government is also working on the repair of the airport and sea port in the city. Aside from the houses and infrastructures, the quake also reduced to rubble centuries-old churches in Bohol and Cebu. Aquino also urged Boholanos to get back on their feet and set themselves as examples for all those hit by calamities. "Tulad ng ipinakita ng mga Boholano, sabay-sabay tayong babangon mula sa pagkakadapa... Kayo ay nagiging halimbawa sa mga ibang lugar na nasalanta na talagang kakayanin natin [We will all get back on our feet. You, Boholanos, will serve as examples for other areas hit by the calamity that we will rise again)," he said.

NGCP SCRAMBLING REPAIRS OF POWER LINES

Meanwhile, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has intensified power restoration in the “Yolanda” ravaged areas in the Visayas region and has energized Bohol, which was ravaged by a 7.2 earthquake that had downed power lines in the island province. In a report, NGCP spokesperson and lawyer Cynthia D. Perez-Alabanza said the power transmission firm sustains its coordination with the Department of Energy, National Electrification Administration and other concerned agencies in a bid to restore power in the region in time for the Christmas season. NGCP has intensified mobilization of its resources and manpower resources to facilitate the restoration of damaged transmission lines and substations in the Visayas area. Based on NGCP's assessment, more than 2,000 structures were affected by the super typhoon. Around 1,400 line personnel including hired contractors from all over the country are currently deployed in the affected-Visayas regions to speed up power restoration. Along this line, NGCP continues its appeal for the public's cooperation, particularly private landowners, to allow authorized line personnel to enter and repair the lines traversing their land properties.

The NGCP report through its Corporate Communications Department head and concurrent Southern Luzon communications officer Nelson Bautista said their line personnel worked round-the-clock for the Emergency Restoration System (ERS). NGCP linemen and maintenance personnel have already erected the power transmission tower along the Ormoc-Maasin138-kilovolt (kV) Transmission Line which transmits electricity generated in Leyte to Bohol Island. According to the NGCP report, the line was energized before dusk on Nov. 24 that also led to the energization of Maasin-Ubay 138-kV line directly supplying power to Bohol. Despite inclement weather in the region, NGCP assured that restoration activities are scheduled on time to meet DOE's order of bringing back power before Christmas time to the Visayas-affected regions that were plunged into darkness at the height of super typhoon “Yolanda.”

About three days before the power restoration in Bohol, NGCP already restored the critical line segment in the Visayas grid. The Marshalling-Tabango 230-kilovolt (kV) Transmission Line located in the northern part of Leyte Island was fully restored and energized 12 days after “Yolanda” wrought havoc in the areas toppling and crumpling power transmission towers. This line transmission incurred seven towers downed by the super storm crippling power, communications and business activities. Now, the restored transmission line supplies electricity from Cebu to Leyte and allows the energization of Ormoc Substation which serves the Leyte Electric Cooperative V (LEYECO V). The Ormoc Substation's restoration paved the way for other municipalities and Ormoc City to be regain electricity and power supply. (with reports from Ric V. Obedencio and PNA)