With no power lines in their area under the bridge, residents rely on solar panels to power their homes. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Their continued stay under the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge may be uncertain, but more than 10 families living in the Lapu-Lapu City side don’t have to rely on power lines for their power supply.
Factory worker Rolando Navasca, whose family lived under the bridge for more than 15 years, said they’ve bought solar panels two years ago to provide power to their home.
The solar panels collect sunlight and they can generate 100 watts of energy daily.
Navasca said this is enough to power their lights, ceiling fan, radio and a portable DVD player for a maximum of four days.
He said neighbors who don’t have solar panels go to their house to recharge their cell phones or other appliances.
The 55-year-old Navasca said they charge P10 for every recharging. He said this was an improvement 15 years ago when they only used lamps.
“When my children started to work and each contributed, we bought solar panel,” Navasca said.
He said they bought it from a store for P3,000 to P4,700 per panel.
Another family in the area switched from using a truck battery to solar panels.
Joan Catoto said her parents decided to use solar panels because they are much cheaper.
Joan Catoto is one of the residents who rely on solar panels to power their homes under the bridge. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
She said it cost them P160 per week to charge the truck battery outside.
“But now we use solar panels which only cost us P4,000-plus and the sunlight can charge the panels and provide power to our house. It’s better to use solar panels especially now when the weather is hot. It’s a good thing that the heat is taken advantage of by those with no electricity,” the 23-year-old Catoto said.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) doesn’t allow the installation of power lines in the area since it is located under the bridge which is owned by the government.
“Dili mana allowed kay road-right-of-way mana siya (under the bridge).Wala sad na namo tuguti (It’s not allowed as the area is a road-right-of-way. We didn’t allow any installation of lines there),” DPWH asst. 6th district Engr. Renult Ricardo said.