Groups to DOE chief: Quit over Visayas power woes

CEBU CITY — Consumer, labor and climate groups have called for the resignation of Energy Secretary Sharon Garin as the Visayas power crisis dragged on its fifth month.

The call, made in a press conference here on Thursday, came six months after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared a national energy emergency on March 24, with groups under the Power for People Coalition (P4P) saying the government has failed to stop recurring rotational brownouts and rising electricity costs.

Since May, the region, which faced persistent power interruptions such as rotational brownouts, has already recorded 43 red alerts and 107 yellow alerts.

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Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, president of Caritas Philippines and prelate of San Carlos in Negros Occidental, said reliable electricity is essential to communities and called on the government to uphold accountability in the power sector.

“The government has yet to respond to that call. They must fulfill their mandate of genuine public service through affordable, clean and community-centered energy, and through upholding accountability,” Alminaza said.

P4P campaigner Krishna Ariola said the DOE’s response to the emergency over the past six months had failed to provide lasting relief, noting that this prompted the call for Garin’s resignation.

“Ordinary Filipinos are affected, including the ordinary workers, our businessmen, especially the small business owners,” Ariola said.

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The groups called for an investigation into generating companies over possible fraud and market manipulation, allegations they said should be examined to determine whether repeated plant outages are contributing to higher electricity prices.

The DOE has acknowledged that inadequate generation, rather than problems among local distribution utilities, is behind the current Visayas supply crunch.

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READ: Visayas brownouts possible amid tight supply

Coal reliance

For P4P, however, the recurring outages is the result of the Visayas’ continued dependence on coal-fired generation.

Ariola cited a 2024 study by the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development that attributed 51 percent of power plant outages nationwide to coal plants and another 19 percent to gas plants.

She argued that the repeated breakdowns challenge the premise that coal-fired plants provide a more reliable source of baseload power than renewable energy.

The coalition also called for stronger accountability for generating companies, reforms in the power sector and a faster shift toward renewable energy.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Council has also stepped up pressure on energy regulators and power companies to address the worsening supply situation.

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In a resolution sponsored by Councilor Harry Eran, the council called on the DOE, Energy Regulatory Commission, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and power companies to take immediate, transparent measures to stabilize electricity supply and ensure accountability for recurring outages and rising power costs. /das