By Celeste Anna Formoso with reports from Gillian Faye Ibañez/PNA
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — The Sangguniang Panlungsod approved two measures here Monday that support President Rodrigo Duterte’s warning to take over the electric cooperative and thanked him for interceding to resolve the power crisis in Palawan.
In a visit on November 10 for the first staging of the Subaraw Biodiversity Festival 2018 here, Duterte gave the Palawan Electric Cooperative (Paleco) until the end of the year to address the frequent blackouts or else he will expropriate its franchise to private power players.
Vice Mayor Luis Marcaida III said they support the President’s issued cut-off date to finally end the long-standing power problem that the city and province are enduring.
“Yes, the two resolutions have been approved. One is strongly supporting the statement of the president and the other expresses appreciation to him for addressing Palawan’s electric problem,” he said.
Earlier, the City Council invited Paleco officials to appear in its regular session to explain the actions they will take to fix the power concerns. However, none of them was able to attend.
Paleco acting general manager Napoleon Cortes Jr. said they were unable to attend Monday’s regular session because the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Power Corporation invited them to an urgent meeting.
“We’re here in the DOE because we were called to a meeting. We’re not able to attend (the meeting called by the City Council),” he said in a separate interview.
Cortes said although they failed to attend the meeting, his office had sent an earlier letter to the City Council, detailing some of their actions on power shortage and other important matters.
He said they will attend the question hour on November 26 to explain their side which they felt was not heard.
“We also want to explain to the City Council our side and also to the DOE because we feel that our stand was never heard,” Cortes said.
