SABOTAGE? ‘Mysterious line faults’ cause district-wide outage

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

The entire district of Mandurriao, Iloilo suffered an unscheduled brownout Saturday evening until Sunday morning due to “mysterious” major faults which MORE Electric and Power Corp. is now investigating.

In a statement, MORE Power, which took over the power distribution services in Iloilo City in February 2020, said it “is now making a thorough investigation as to why three major faults and loose connections in various points within Feeder 4 network of the Mandurriao substation all happened simultaneously that led to an extended unscheduled power interruption.”

MORE Power said that at around 09:59 pm Saturday, it received reports of a loose connection along the primary wire traversing Q. Abeto Street, Mandurriao (just across Iloilo Supermart) “leading to trip offs in Mandurriao Feeder 4.”

Response Teams (RTs) tried to restore power supply to the affected area but successive trip offs persisted in the same area.

The RTs immediately re-investigated the affected area and found loose connections in various points of the immediate network.

Power restoration efforts were also futile due to “another set of mysterious successive trip offs resulting in a power outage in the area, which points to an obvious attack against the electrical system.”

MORE Power said the findings of the Response Team indicated the following causes and abnormalities:

1. 1. Detached primary line from pin insulator near J7 Plaza Hotel
   2. Overheated connector near Mango Tree Restaurant on Guzman Street
   3. Damaged suspension insulator along Oñate De Leon Street
   4. Damaged suspension insulator and primary jumper/dropping wire near McDonald’s Megaworld
   5. Damaged primary line conductor across Chicken Sari-Sari

Power supply was fully restored at around 08:48 am Sunday.

“Although we are still waiting for the official confirmation of our Response Team regarding the possible sabotage of our electricity network, we hope you will accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you’ve experienced due to this incident. We know how it is important at this time of the pandemic to have a stable power supply and this failure to better serve you was a frustration to us all. Thank you for your patience and your faith in us to arrest this problem while we enlisted the help of several additional specialists to take appropriate action and serve you better and more efficiently. Again, our sincere apologies,” MORE Power said in a statement.

Former PECO personnel who now work for MORE Power and are familiar with the existing lines and facilities said they find the incidents very “mysterious”.

 

SABOTAGE?

As this developed, consumers took their rage online against the possible sabotage on power facilities.

One Facebook user named Luis Buenaflor Jr. said, “It seems rather curious (that) these continuous trip off and accidents on power lines it does (sic) appear deliberate … now who’s desperate and would benefit if Iloilo city’s current power provider looks bad.”

Another Facebook, Manny Santos, said, “Thanks, More!! Though, last night was such a big inconvenience for everyone. Let’s try to understand MORE because they did their best to resolve the issues as soon as possible. I think PECO should’ve had a proper turnover kay siempre bag’ohanon pa lang ang MORE. Indi pa nila kabisado ang wires kay indi sila nagsugod. Plus the fact nga ga salalambid ang mga wires kg mga ga-hilay na nga poste that was completely overlooked by the previous distributor. Hoping MORE will finally soon finish cleaning up their (PECO’s) 95 yrs of messes and to serve Iloilo better!  Continue doing a great job and the transparency kay either with sabotage or not, the people will eventually see through your efforts and hardwork.”

Netizen Niño Besquillo Saul appealed: “Let us understand that MORE is doing everything they can to improve our power in Iloilo. From the supply to their customer service (which PECO doesn’t have). Sang si PECO reklamo, subong kay nakay-o ni MORE tanan, reklamo guihapon. Give MORE a chance. Who knows, basi may ga-sabotahe, di ba?”.

 

COINCIDENCE?

Insinuations of sabotage became stronger as the series of mysterious incidents happened near the house of Mayor Jerry Treñas.

Treñas recently expressed his support for the repairs and rehabilitation activities of MORE Power, including its continuing preventive maintenance.

MORE Power said it is not discounting the possibility that there are individuals or groups who are out to discredit them through the series of “mysterious trip offs” and related incidents have been a recurring problem since they took over the power distribution in the city of Iloilo.

“Sabotage is possible but we cannot deny the fact that dilapidated electric poles, sagging lines, and overloaded transformers of PECO that were passed on to MORE Power continue to deteriorate and therefore pose a major threat to the lives and the property of our consumers, which is why the rehabilitation and upgrade of these equipment is now our topmost priority,” according to MORE Power spokesman Jonathan Cabrera.