Iloilo City Mayor: No Quick Fix for Power Woes, Long-Term Solutions Pursued

ILOILO CITY — The Iloilo City government is working with energy-sector stakeholders on longer-term solutions to continuing power interruptions as residents demand clearer timelines and immediate measures, Mayor Raisa Treñas said. In a statement on Sept. 4, Treñas said the city government understood how repeated outages were affecting households, businesses, workers, and everyday activities. She clarified that the manual load shedding implemented by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) was not directly under the control of the Iloilo City government. She also said she recently met with Panay Energy Development Corp. during a meeting of the Iloilo City Business Development Council and learned of efforts to increase power generation capacity in the Visayas. READ: Visayas power woes highlight need for gridwide upgrade The mayor cited the expected entry into Iloilo City of LNGPH, described as an integrated liquefied natural gas terminal and power facility, as one development that could help address the region’s power requirements. Treñas stressed that the supply problem extended beyond Iloilo City and affected the wider Visayas grid. “There is no instant or overnight solution to this problem. But we are not taking this sitting down,” she said. The mayor said the city would continue coordinating with power-sector stakeholders to better understand the situation and identify concrete measures to protect consumers.