A total of 21 towns serviced by the Bohol Electric Cooperative (BOHECO) II have not been allotted power supply since outages started to plague the province in the aftermath of the Leyte quake last week.
“Sukad sa pagkapalong sa atong suga diri, wala pa g’yod nakabalik until now,” said Engr. Jun Melencion of BOHECO II.
According to Melencion, residents who own generator sets have been solely dependent on the devices for power after the 6.5-magnitude tremor hit Leyte on Thursday damaging power plants in the province.
The electric cooperative has not been supplied with electricity from the currently operating small power plants in the province including the Bohol Diesel Power Plant in Tagbilaran City.
Melencion said that they were expecting power to be allocated by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to BOHECO II by today.
However, the NGCP has continued to struggle in repairs of damaged facilities barring it from transmitting power to Bohol.
“Supposedly, duna sila’y schedule na mo-pasud gahapon o karon unya nahitabo man didto sa Leyte sa tinubdan nato na power nga sige pa og aftershock,” said Melencion.
Towns under the coverage of BOHECO II include Valencia, Garcia Hernandez, Jagna, Duero, Guindulman, Anda, Candijay, Mabini, Alicia, Ubay, Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Island, Pilar, Sierra-Bullones, San Miguel, Dagohoy, Danao, Bien-Unido, Trinidad, Talibon, Getafe and Buenavista.
Meanwhile, the NGCP was supposed to transmit power from Cebu to Bohol through the recently established Tabango-Ormoc bypass line by Monday.
However, rains and aftershocks have slackened progress in the bypass line’s operation, the NGCP said.
In a separate report, the NGCP also bared that all six of its facility’s transformers were affected by the tremor contrary to its initial assessment that no major damages were incurred by its systems, as pointed out by its Visayas spokesperson Betty Martinez.
“As of 2PM, testing in Ormoc Substation has revealed that all 6 transformers in the NGCP facility have been damaged by the earthquake,” said the NGCP in its Tuesday update. (Allen Doydora)