The National Electrification Administration (NEA) has directed the Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) to develop a sustainability plan as rehabilitation activities for its power distribution system continue.
NEA Deputy Administrator for Technical Services Artis Nikki Tortola flew to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on September 26 to personally assess the initial rehabilitation activities conducted by Task Force Kapatid.
“The rehabilitation activities are not finished yet but we are making progress.”
Tortola, during his meeting with PALECO management, emphasized the need for the power co-op to come up with a sustainability program so that the hard work and efforts extended by the task force would not go to waste.
“We cannot do this all the time whenever they have a problem. PALECO must have a sustainability plan in terms of vegetation management, line clearing and maintenance. Otherwise, the problem would recur always,” the deputy administrator said.
Meanwhile, rehabilitation works for PALECO’s power distribution system will continue as the initial batch of electric cooperatives (ECs) completed their tasks last month.
The second batch of EC’s Task Force Kapatid contingents from the Visayas is now preparing to be deployed to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, after the first batch of ECs from Luzon returned to their respective head offices by the end of September.
The first batch worked for 38 days in Palawan, conducted right-of-way clearing activities (total of 80.1 km), reconductoring of distribution line (15.8 circuit km), pole replacement (72 poles), line conversion to double circuit (4.9 circuit km), line conversion from single-phase to three-phase (11.5 circuit km), line improvement (11.2 km), meter clustering (27 poles), and wire uprating (2.4 circuit km).
“Our first batch of line workers and support personnel demonstrated great efforts and spent more than a month away from their homes and families to help PALECO. The rehabilitation activities are not finished yet but we are making progress,” NEA Administrator Edgardo Masongsong said.
“The second batch of ECs will be on their way to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan this month. So we appeal to all member-consumer-owners of PALECO for their patience and understanding during the rehabilitation efforts,” the NEA chief added.
The NEA organized and mobilized the Task Force Kapatid specifically to aid in rehabilitation efforts that will improve the efficiency and reliability of PALECO’s power distribution services, which for years have been the major cause of dissatisfaction among Palaweños.
“The second batch of ECs will be on their way to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan this month.”
Task Force Kapatid PALECO is divided into three batches. The first batch is composed of the technical team from Batangas I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BATELEC I), Batangas II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BATELEC II), First Laguna Electric Cooperative, Inc. (FLECO), and the Philippine Federation of Electric Cooperatives (PHILFECO).
The team from PHILFECO comprises of participants from Isabela II Electric Cooperative (ISELCO II), Pangasinan I Electric Cooperative (PANELCO I), and Pangasinan III Electric Cooperative (PANELCO III). PHILFECO is a group of ECs registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).
The second batch, on the other hand, will be formed by power coops from Region VI namely, Aklan Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AKELCO), Antique Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ANTECO), Capiz Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CAPELCO), Iloilo II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ILECO II), and Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative, Inc. (NOCECO).
The last batch will be from Cebu I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CEBECO I), Cebu II Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CEBECO II), and Cebu III Electric Cooperative, Inc. (CEBECO III).
Established in 1974, PALECO is the power distributor of Puerto Princesa City and the Municipalities of Aborlan, Narra, Brooke’s Point, Sofronio Espanola, Cuyo, Magsaysay, Quezon, Roxas, Taytay, El Nido, Araceli, San Vicente, Bataraza, Rizal, Balabac, Cagayancillo, Agutaya and Dumaran.