More than half of Luzon without power - DOE

MANILA, Philippines — About 60 to 70 percent of Luzon is experiencing power outage due to the onslaught of Typhoon "Glenda," the Department of Energy (DOE) said Wednesday.

At a televised press briefing on Wednesday afternoon, DOE Secretary Jericho Petilla said the entire Southern Luzon has no electricity at the moment.

"If Southern Luzon is more or less equal to Northern Luzon, we're talking about half of Luzon," Petilla said.

"And parts of Metro Manila [are affected]. More than half [of Luzon is without power]," he added.

Petilla said only two lines of the Manila Electric Co. franchise were unaffected.

Meralco earlier announced that around 90 percent of its customers are experiencing power outage brought about by downed poles, lines and outages of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines' (NGCP) transmission lines.

The NGCP also said in the same briefing that around 4.5 million customers (84.38 percent) are still without power as of 1 p.m.

The National Electrification Administration, on the other hand, also reported that 15 electric cooperatives are affected or about 1.5 million households from Northern Samar to Bataan.

Petilla advised those in the areas without electricity to bear with the situation, but he assured that the government will restore power immediately.

The energy chief, however, did not give a definite time when the power will be restored since they have yet to fully assess Glenda's damage.

He urged those in Southern Luzon to stock up on fuel for generators since power may only return there tomorrow.

"Hindi natin masisiguro ngayong gabi kung maibabalik ang kuryente. There's a slim chance of doing that," Petilla said. - Louis Bacani