RDC 6 pushes for the declaration of ‘state of power emergency’
By Manny Regalado Alcalde
The Department of Energy (DOE) through Secretary Sharon S. Garin is looking into the possibility of reducing power interruptions in the Visayas as soon as possible or by the start of the last quarter of this year. This is part of the initial step to normalize the situation amidst the issue of the shortage in supply estimated at more than 400 megawatts (MW).
“Our first job is to stabilize the Visayas Grid and DOE along with other government agencies are working things out to solve this,” Garin said during an online briefing last September 15, 2026.
According to the energy secretary the key priorities are fixing the generation plants or the Return to Service (RTS) of plants which were on forced outage, the deployment of the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), and the installation of the power barges for Bohol, Panay and Cebu which will form part of the ready power supply.
Expectedly, power plants which broke down are returning to generate power with a PEDC unit in Cebu last September 2, Thermal Visayas Inc. Unit 1 last September 18, PEDC Iloilo by October 3 and three other power plants in Mindanao which will come back to supply power.
“We have both the short term and the long term plans for the Visayas, that is what we call the Visayas Master Plan,” said Garin. “We should not be dependent to Luzon or Mindanao,” she added. The energy secretary also mentioned the upcoming new baseload capacity of 135 MW for 2028, 270MW in 2029, and 150MW in 2030. The earliest of the commitment is by year 2028 for the long-term solutions.
Meanwhile, the Regional Development Council VI (RDC 6) through a resolution, in a council meeting last week, pushed for the declaration of a state of power emergency in the Visayas amidst yellow and red alerts by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines which caused prolonged power outages.
The council approved a resolution ad referendum which allows council members to adopt a measure by circulation without convening a full session. This was during a meeting with Energy Secretary Garin who visited Iloilo for the Handog ng Pangulo event. RDC hopes to fast-track the implementation of measures and expedite permits and licenses needed for the short-term plans of DOE, to include the battery energy storage systems and power barges.
The council also approved a separate resolution urgently seeking the realization of the Mindoro-Panay230-Kilovolt Interconnection Project of NGCP which intends to extend the western transmission from Mindoro to Visayas following the Batangas-Mindoro 500-Kilovolt Interconnection Project. Currently, the Visayas is only linked through the Leyte-Luzon High-Voltage and sits farthest from its entry point and needs another alternative inter-connection.
NGCP has regularly informed power users that it will raise a yellow alert when operating reserves fall below the required contingency level and red alert when supply is insufficient to meet the demand. This is the reason for the implementation of the Manual Load Dropping (MLD) of the power distributors to reduce demand and protect grid stability.
Meanwhile, the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Iloilo, Inc. (FCCCII) expresses serious concern over the recurring yellow and red alerts affecting the Visayas Grid.
In a statement, FCCCII president Terence Uygonco said the resulting Manual Load Dropping and rotational power interruptions are disrupting businesses and increasing operating costs in lloilo City.
The community also called on energy agencies, power-sector stakeholders, and local leaders to: Restore unavailable generating units without delay; Provide timely and transparent outage advisories; Strengthen generation and transmission capacity; and Consider measures to protect businesses and consumers from exceptional power-cost increases.
