“Thousands of power consumers are still waiting for our services to go back to normal as 185 out of 374 villages are still without electricity” — Benedicto Ongking, Officer-in-Charge General Manager of the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative
By ALEX D. LOPEZ
Davao Today
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Millions worth of electrical equipment and hardware owned and operated by electric cooperatives in the Davao region and nearby provinces were destroyed by typhoon ‘Pablo’ when it hit early this month in Mindanao.
Over PHP 218-million worth of electrical structures, hardware and equipment were destroyed in Compostela Valley while another PHP 39-million worth was recorded in Tagum City, based on the December 26 data presented by Benedicto Ongking, Officer-in-Charge General Manager of the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative (Daneco), Friday.
“Thousands of power consumers are still waiting for our services to go back to normal as 185 out of 374 villages are still without electricity,” Ongking said.
Meanwhile, the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives (Amreco) said the areas covered by the Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative (Doreco) were also badly hit by typhoon ‘Pablo.’ While it was not able to provide Doreco’s total worth of damages, Amreco said that as of Wednesday, 67 out of 183 villages are still without electricity.
Amreco president Sergio Dagooc said their group, together with the National Electrification Administration (Nea) are exerting all efforts to help those affected electric cooperatives recover and restore their services to their consumers.
“Amreco and Nea launched the Task Force Kapatid in response to the immediate task of speeding up the restoration of power in devastated areas,” Dagooc said, adding that, through the task force, the 33-strong electric cooperative members in Mindanao have contributed trucks, tools, equipment and technical persons to help in the restoration process.
The task force, he added, had dispatched work forces and field teams from member electric cooperatives to rehabilitate the backbone lines since early December after ‘Pablo’ left Mindanao.
The work forces and teams were equipped and supported with electrical tools, boom trucks, equipment and line trucks.
Other areas covered by the task force are Agusan del Sur and Surigao del Sur where electric cooperatives also suffered losses.
Agusan del Sur Electric Cooperative General Manager Emmanuel Galarse said more than PHP 29-million worth of electric poles, transformers and other electrical hardware were damaged. Out of the 313 villages they cover, 65 are still not energized.
Meanwhile, the Surigao del Sur Electric Cooperative I said that as of December 24, they have already energized 102 villages out of the total 113. However, it did not present the worth of the damage caused by ‘Pablo.’
These electric cooperatives are expecting that all the restoration process of affected electric cooperatives will be completed early next year. (Alex D. Lopez/davaotoday.com)
