By Pearl Gumapos
In his privilege speech during the Senate’s second regular session on Wednesday (June 2), Sen. Manny Pacquiao blamed Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi for the power interruptions currently plaguing the country over the past several days.
“Ang nagkulang talaga dito [ay si] Secretary Cusi, dahil [siya] ang secretary ng Department of Energy. So kung ano man ang mga problemang ganito, ikaw talaga ang may problema, kasi you can exercise your power to solve the problem. Ikaw ang may command responsibility for this problem,” Pacquiao said.
Pacquiao said the DOE secretary must be held accountable for the power interruptions and that he should be held liable for his shortcomings as a public officer.
“In-assure niya na hindi magkakaroon ng blackout, [pero] ngayon ay nangyari ito. So sabi ko kailangan ng accountability. Kailangan ma-explain niya mabuti kung ano’ng naging dahilan at maipaliwanag niyang mabuti,” Pacquiao said.
Meanwhile, Cusi explained in the Malacañang public briefing on Thursday that the rotating brownouts for the past two days were caused by the breakdown of four big plants with a capacity of 2,017 megawatts.
“Mayroon pa rin tayong mga plantang tinitingnan dahil hindi pa rin nakakabalik sa sistema. Mayroon pa ring around 1,372 megawatts capacity na apat na planta na still down.”
Despite the breaking down of the power plants, the supply of energy today remains normal.
“Normal na ang supply ng kuryente for today. Ang supply is more than sufficient to meet the projected demand today. Sa ngayon, ang peak demand that is projected is around 10,300 megawatts, and we have 11,600 megawatts to supply,” Cusi said.
“We have built up capacity by more than 30% since we assumed and we have planned our indicative power plant buildup up to 2040 to make sure that we have sufficient power supply, electricity in the coming years,” he added. – jlo
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