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Religious, business, transport, non-government organizations, and other sectors turned up to protest the daily brownouts and high electricity rates in the province.
The protest was held in the wake of daily rotational brownouts lasting up to six hours.
Business sector representative Nestor Comendador said the member-consumers are very much tired of the power outages, which have greatly affected the local businesses and all electricity consumers.
Comendador said the power outages have plagued the consumers since 2010 and it became worst on Feb. 27 this year, where rotational brownouts occurred in every two hours, three times a day - one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and another one in the evening.
In a series of fora and press conferences earlier conducted by the National Grid Corporation (NGCP) and Zamboanga del Sur Electric Cooperative (ZAMSURECO-I), both declared that the shortage of power supply was the culprit of frequent brownouts in Mindanao.
Comendador, who is managing a hotel and restaurant, said the power outage has reduced the productivity and efficiency of hotel and restaurant industry, adding that they are forced to reduce the number of their workers due to poor revenues.
“We have lost six hours a day but we were surprised because we were still paying huge amount for electricity. We expected a decrease in electricity consumption,” Comendador complained.
Interfaith Forum for Solidarity and Peace Muslim convenor Sultan Abdulmaguid Maruhom said he is supporting the initiative of the civil society organizations saying that the protest rally is a venue to air their complaints against the rotational brownouts.
“I am both hurt and angry at the rotational brownouts because it causes severe inconvenience to many consumers especially the poor,” said Maruhom said whose standby power generator was damaged due to the power outage.
Maruhom expressed optimism that after this protest rally by the civil society, the Department of Energy will act swiftly on the power problem in the island.
United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) Minister June Candia, who represented the religious sector, appealed for the government’s immediate intervention in restoring electricity services saying that constant electricity supply in the area is very vital.