The Mindanao-wide power outage last February 27 left Senator JV Ejercito asking what happened to the P9-84-billion rehabilitation budget allotted for the Agus-Pulangi hydropower complexes back in 2012.
“What happened to the pronouncements made by President Benigno Aquino III during the Power Summit in April 2012, when he committed P2.6-billion for the rehabilitation of Agus 6 hydropower plant and another P7.24-billion for the rehabilitation of river basins to allow water to flow to the Agus and Pulangi facilities?” Ejercito, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on
Economic affairs, questioned.
Senator Ejercito said the repair and rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangi hydropower plants can no longer be put off since the problem had been present at the onset of the Aquino administration.
“The Mindanao power crisis could have been averted had the rehabilitation been started in 2010 under this administration,” he said.
Senator Ejercito urged the Department of Energy to now focus on the rehabilitation of the aging power plants and to resolve the lack of power capacity, with rotating blackouts still besetting Mindanao.
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*PRESS RELEASE*
