Linemen from energy distributors in the Visayas and Mindanao have arrived in Cebu to help in the restoration and reenergizing efforts of Visayan Electric. | Photos from Visayan Electric
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The rains on Wednesday, December 29, 2021, has caused a certain delay in the reenergization efforts of Visayan Electric as linemen cannot work under bad weather.
Engineer Raul Lucero, president and chief operating officer (COO) of Visayan Electric, said that they could not risk the safety of their linemen during rainy days as they might get into accidents or get ill.
“Gamay tag output gahapon kay ulan kaayo. Against gyod na sa atong safety rules. Di pud nato sila i-expose para dili masakit,” Lucero said.
(We only have a little output yesterday because it was raining hard. That is against our safety rules. We could not expose our linemen [to bad weather] so that they would not get sick.)
“Delikado ra ba ang panahon run kay naa pay COVID-19. Pero just in case naay mahitabo, naa ra tay separate building for isolation,” he said.
(The times are also risky today because there is still COVID-19. But just in case that will happen, we also have a separate building for isolation.)
There are over 700 linemen currently housed and fed inside the Visayan Electric substation in Barangay Banilad, Cebu City, and the last thing the utility firm will need is for these men to fall ill.
This is why even before going on field, the linemen are reminded of their safety protocols including public health protocols of wearing face masks inside and outside the substation.
Despite the delay caused by the rainy day, Lucero said they were on track with their schedule of reenergizing 30 percent of its franchise area by tomorrow, December 31, 2021, the last day of the year, and 80 percent by January 10, 2022.
Full restoration of the electric line is projected on January 30, 2022, unless rains and bad weather conditions cause delays.
Meanwhile, Visayan Electric has yet to provide the total damage from the properties following Typhoon Odette.
However, they are now continuously assessing the damage while the linemen work on the posts since they can account for the damage to each electrical post, transformer, and wire.
“One of the reason ngano wala pa tay total damage kay wala pa sad ta kaadto sa bukid-bukid. Daghan pag wala naassess didto,” said Lucero.
(One of the reasons why we still don’t have total damage [caused by Odette] is because we have not yet visited mountain areas. We still have not assessed the damage there.)
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