Benitez suggests emergency powers for Marcos amid Visayas electric woes

MANILA, Philippines — Granting President Marcos emergency powers could be a quick way to solve the electric power crisis currently hounding Visayas, Deputy Speaker and Bacolod Rep. Albee Benitez said.

Benitez said this during the hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on energy, committee on Visayas development, and the committee on legislative franchises, as Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said that emergency powers can speed up the construction of generation facilities and transmission lines.

The three House panels held a hearing last Saturday in Bacolod, in response to the frequent yellow and red alerts for the Visayas grid, and the frequent brownouts plaguing the region.

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“Taking off from the response of the DOE (Department of Energy) secretary… favoring emergency powers to do certain actions that would alleviate the present situation, maybe subject to the presentation of the actual draft of emergency powers that Secretary Garin is asking, I would endorse probably from this joint committee to push the passage of this emergency power especially at this time where we needed it most, to Congress and eventually the President,” Benitez said.

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According to Benitez, the outages showed how vulnerable the Visayas grid is, as it depends on electricity from Luzon and Mindanao when several generating units go offline simultaneously.

It could be remembered that the DOE was scolded by the committee on energy and the committee on Visayas development during a past hearing last September after the agency failed to provide a concrete solution to the power woes affecting the region.

READ: Solon hits DOE for having no quick answer to Visayas power outages

Then on Saturday’s hearing, data showed that Visayas had an available supply of about 2,575 megawatts (MW) on that day, while afternoon demand was at 2,624 MW. The gap only worsens at night as the region has to rely more on supply coming from Luzon and Mindanao.

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“In practice, much of this investment and generation capacity has become concentrated in Luzon and Mindanao while the Visayas has faced limitations in local supply and generation capacity. Today, Visayas is a net importer of power,” Benitez said.

“We’re seeing the consequences. The issue before us today is not simply whether [or not] we have enough electricity. The bigger question is, does Visayas have the energy foundation to sustain the growth and economic potential of our region?” he asked.

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Among the things needed to solve Visayas’ power problems are permanent baseload solutions, but these are not expected to be available before 2028—leading the government to look at battery energy storage systems, power barges, faster repair and restoration of damaged generating units, and additional renewable energy capacity.

DOE also mentioned that transmission upgrades may be conducted to ensure that surplus electricity in an area can be moved more efficiently to other portions that may need it more.

These mitigating measures and the speeding up of projects may be possible with an emergency power, according to Benitez.

“Under the emergency powers, pwedeng gawin ng secretary ’yan (the secretary can do that),” Benitez said.

Prior to the September hearing, the Visayas and Mindanao grids have been plagued with power alerts, threatening possible brownouts for consumers. Last September 1, NGCP declared a red alert for seven hours over the Visayas grid as supply was unable to address the demands of consumers.

READ: Power supply woes in Visayas, Mindanao extend to September

NGCP previously said several generating facilities had been unavailable for varying periods. These included 11 plants on forced outage since September, three since August, two since June, and six since May.

Other plants have been on forced outage longer, including three since 2025, two since 2024, two since 2023, and one since 2021.

READ: Iloilo business group urges urgent action on Visayas power crisis

DOE also said that the simultaneous outages of major power plants in Mindanao have also limited the amount of power that can be allocated and transferred to Visayas.

Moreover, DOE said that a key factor is the absence of “conventional and baseload generation” in Visayas.

Last Sept.16, local business players in Iloilo sounded the alarm over recurring power outages, warning that the unstable power supply threatens local economic growth, jobs, and enterprise survival.

In a press statement issued Tuesday, the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Iloilo, Inc. (FCCCI) voiced deep concern over repeated yellow and red alerts that triggered Manual Load Dropping (MLD) and rotational blackouts throughout Iloilo City and nearby areas.

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The chamber noted that local businesses face a double burden: escalating electricity rates alongside the steep indirect costs of power interruptions. /cb