With the delayed but badly needed intervention of Malacanang, the 60,000 or so member-consumer-owners of the First Catanduanes Elecric Cooperative, Inc. are thankful and relieved that the eight-hour rotational brownouts are gone after a hellish month.
Electricity is back 24/7 and, barring unscheduled outages for understandable reasons, complaints will only be aired once they receive the power bill by the 25th of each month.
From the 11.8 megawatts available in the grid on May 15, 2026, after the expiration of EPSA 1, the available dependable capacity has gone up to 21 mW with the addition of the 8 mW being supplied by Isla Dagyab Energy Corporation under EPSA 2 and the 5 mW emergency power procured by the National Power Corporation as an interim measure.
Of the three sources of power on the island, that of Sunwest Water & Electricity Co. (SUWECO) and NPC are partly subsidized by the national government under the Universal Charge for Missionary Electrification (UCME) which many consumers pay as part of the cost per kilowatt-hour.
The Isla Dagyab production is not entitled to the subsidy according to existing rules of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for which FICELCO will pay at True Cost Generation Rate (TCGR).
At least, everyone will have electricity when they need it, even if they have to pay more for the service,
This concerted effort of national agencies, spurred by a directive from Malacanang, to address the recent power crisis in Catanduanes is what’s missing from the similar attempts to resolve the water crisis in the capital town of Virac and nearby towns.
What consumers of Virac Water District have seen so far is an appeal from the management for all to pray for rain.
At least Governor Patrick Alain T. Azanza has followed Mayor Sinforoso Sarmiento Jr.’s earlier example in inviting a Mindanao-based private company to build a water treatment plant along Pajo river, with the water to be supplier to the local water district.
There is no word from the island’s two representatives, Cong. Jose “Bong” Teves Jr. and Cong, Eulogio Rodriguez, on whether they have asked concerned agencies for assistance in funding the development of new water sources or constructing a P100-million water impounding dam up in the mountain of Cawayan.
True, the current national budget prohibits the allocation of funding or the implementation of such projects intended for local water districts but they could have at least made an effort.
As they say in the vernacular, “kapag gusto, may paraan, kapag ayaw, maraming dahilan.”
And then there is the fact that nothing has been heard from the Local Water Utilities Authority (LWUA), which supposedly exercises supervision over local water districts.
Unlike the National Electrification Administration (NEA) in case of electric cooperatives, the LWUA management keeps its hands off matters involving complaints of lack of potable water.
Apparently, it is only content with ensuring that the water district charges a high enough rate per cubic meter so that the latter would be able to pay its loans to LWUA, as in the case of Baras WD.
It may be recalled that nearly four decades ago, VIWAD borrowed millions of pesos from LWUA for the development of the Cawayan water source at a high rate of interest.
It was LWUA, not the water district, which conducted the bidding won by J.H. Pajara Construction after it submitted a much lower bid than a local company, Bennieco Construction.
LWUA’s chosen contractor was not able to finish the project, which was taken over by the water agency after a long delay.
This past performance from LWUA, along with its failure to come to the succor of the water districts under its care, demands that our honorable gentlemen from the House of Representative show their worth by taking a look at the LWUA charter.
At the same time, they should harangue DPWH national officials to include water source development projects such as dams, in the list of critical infrastructure for funding by 2027.
Perhaps, Teves and Rodriguez should start by roasting them over the failed P20 million dam in Viga and the inutile multi-million solar powered deep wells in Virac and elsewhere.