More power to MORE Power

By Herbert Vego

I vividly remember that day in 2024 when, during a coffee chat with us at Hotel del Rio, President/CEO Roel Z. Castro of MORE Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) broached the idea of publishing a coffee-table book to chronicle its first five years of operation as Iloilo City’s distribution utility.

I knew Sir Roel was not joking, having known him since 2016 when he was general manager of Palm Concepcion Power Corp (PCPC), a coal-fired power plant in Concepcion, Iloilo.

Months after that Hotel del Rio powwow, I got a call from colleague Leah Lyn Fajardo, asking me to write two chapters for the planned coffee-table book.

With Rex Maestrecampo and Darlene Delgado as book editors, we buckled down to work to make Sir Roel’s dream come true – the 242-page, hard-bound “Illuminating Iloilo: MORE Power’s Groundbreaking Milestones.”

Three of the 10 authors are from the Daily Guardian – Francis Allan Angelo, Ted Aldwin Ong, and this writer.

The others are Luis Buenaflor Jr., Allana Babayen-on, Elizabeth Cabunagan, Nereo Lujan, Glenda Tayona, Pearl Socias and Ma. Theresa Ladiao.

I am sure you have already heard, seen or read about the book launch on June 2 at the Courtyard.

The book’s first chapter as written by amigo Luis began, “For nearly a century since 1923, residents of Iloilo City were compelled to buy electricity from a monopoly power distributor and suffered from high rates and poor service.”

For the second chapter, Luis wrote that while motoring to Iloilo City from Concepcion, Castro and his media relations officer, Jonathan Cabrera, were listening to the car radio. Anchorman John Paul Tia was talking about the dissatisfaction of city residents with PECO.

A few months later, Castro resigned from PCPC to work for industrialist Enrique K. Razon, thus launching MORE Power to vie for a legislative franchise to take over PECO, whose franchise had failed its renewal bid.

After operating in Iloilo City for 95 years, Panay Electric Co. (PECO) lost its legislative franchise in January 2019 following numerous consumer complaints regarding erroneous billing and poor service. Congress then granted a 25-year franchise to MORE Power via Republic Act 11212.

Due to a protracted legal battle between the two companies, however, it was only on February 28, 2020 that MORE Power took over.

To quote a portion of the chapter written by Ted Aldwin Ong, “Taking over from a company that has been delivering power services to Iloilo for close to 100 years is no easy task. It is a daunting, exhausting and costly endeavor.  Yet, it has become necessary to dismount one whose survival has been rooted in arrogance, abuse and injustice.”

It turned out to be an uphill challenge. As I wrote in the book, “On March 25, Iloilo City recorded its first COVID-19 case.  Mayor Jerry Treñas immediately coordinated efforts to prevent the virus from spreading. During this period, MORE Power not only continued operations but also donated food, test kits and PPEs.”

After President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, lifted the COVID-19 health emergency in July 2022, MORE Power collaborated with the Iloilo City government to illuminate heritage sites, including San Jose Church and Santa Ana Church, thus highlighting the city’s distinction as the “Athens of the Philippines.”

“A landmark project,” wrote Francis Allan Angelo, “was the implementation of the Underground Distribution System (UDS) along Calle Real, Iloilo City’s historic business district. This PHP 96-million initiative, launched in mid-2023 in partnership with the Iloilo City government, involved relocating overhead electrical lines underground.”

To cut the long story short, MORE Power has grown exponentially from 62,000 customers in 2020 to more than 110,000 today, and counting.

MORE Power has already gained an additional franchise to energize Passi City and 15 towns in the province — Alimodian, Leganes, Leon, New Lucena, Pavia, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, Zarraga, Anilao, Banate, Barotac Nuevo, Dingle, Dueñas, Dumangas, and San Enrique — in accordance with Republic Act No. 11918.

More are coming soon.