Blackouts, power outages to hit Mactan on Holy Week

Mactan Island (Photo Grabbed from Google Maps)

Amid the impending power interruptions on Mactan Island this Holy Week, tour operators were told to make necessary adjustments to lessen the impact on visitors.

Alice Queblatin, president of the Cebu Association of Tour Operations Specialists (Catos), said tour operators will have to bring activities outdoors during downtime, hoping to lessen complaints if guests were made to stay inside their rooms.

“We trust that these measures are meant to improve the power supply in the long run,” Queblatin told Cebu Daily News in a text message on Tuesday.

First blackout

Mactan Island, which is composed of the town of Cordova and Lapu-Lapu City, will experience a blackout from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 9, Palm Sunday.

The whole franchise area of the Mactan Electric Co. (Meco) as well as customers directly connected to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) will be affected.

Edilberto Mendoza, immediate past president of Catos, said that these power interruptions, especially the long ones, can have negative effects on tourism.

“One week is too long for service interruption and I hope they will find a way to shorten it,” he said.

Affected businesses

According to Lapu-Lapu City tourism officer Hembler Mendoza, in an earlier report, around 80 hotels and resorts, 150 restaurants, as well as several coffee shops will be affected by the shutdown.

Only the Mactan Export Processing Zone 1, which gets its power supply from East Asia Utilities Corporation, is exempted from the blackout on April 9.

Reason for no power

This, according to the NGCP, is part of their preparations for the eventual tapping and energization of a new transformer by July.

The existing two transformers will have to be shut down to accommodate the reconfiguration of feeders.

Ma. Rosette Martinez, NGCP Visayas spokesperson, said there will be power supply from April 10 to 14 but it will be unstable since only one transformer will be working during that period.

“That is the time table for the necessary works in preparation for the final tapping and energization of Transformer 3,” she explained.

NGCP has been going around the island to inform customers and ask big establishments to run their own generators during the specified dates.

Second blackout

Another blackout is set to happen from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 15 to cap off the preparatory activities for the new transformer and to give way to the scheduled maintenance of several establishments on the island.

Martinez, in an earlier interview, said a third transformer was necessary to have a steadier supply of power in the future.

“When we maintain our equipment, we have to make sure at least two transformers are working,” she said.

Ready flashlights

Jacinta Rusiana, administrative supervisor at Meco, advised the public to prepare in time for the blackouts and intermittent power supply by next month.

She said the public should prepare rechargable flashlights before the scheduled power interruption.

Rusiana also said they should make a checklist of all their activities that require electricity and make sure these are all done prior to the disturbance.

Meco power outages

Meco is also set to implement rotational power outage from April 10 to 14, which will run between three to four hours for each area.

According to Meco, they serve 80,000 households in Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova town.

Rusiana said they will release the list of areas covered by the outage and the corresponding period of the day by April 10.

“That’s why we’re informing everybody way ahead so they can prepare even without the specific schedules yet,” she said.

The rotation may only be implemented from April 10 (Monday) to April 12 (Wednesday) since the load was expected to be manageable by April 13 (Thursday) to Friday (April 14).

“We’re asking everyone to make this little sacrifice. Anyway, it will be for the best,” said Rusiana.