Business groups demand urgent action

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu’s business community is running out of patience with a power system that is increasingly putting economic growth at risk, demanding immediate action from the government and energy industry to end rotational brownouts that are disrupting factories, raising production costs and undermining investor confidence.

For businesses, the issue is no longer whether power interruptions are inconvenient. Reliable electricity has become a prerequisite for keeping Cebu’s economy running — and for convincing investors that the province remains a competitive place to do business.

Mark Anthony Ynoc, immediate past president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), said the rotational brownouts were already having a serious impact on Mandaue City’s industrial sector, affecting equipment, manufacturing operations and production schedules.

The disruptions are also creating a wider cost problem. Businesses forced to rely on generators during outages face higher fuel and operating expenses, costs that can ultimately feed through supply chains and put further pressure on consumer prices.

Business groups are therefore calling for the government and power industry to treat the situation as an urgent economic issue rather than a temporary power-supply problem.

The call comes as Cebu confronts a familiar but increasingly damaging mismatch—the province is actively courting investment while its power infrastructure struggles to provide the reliability that large-scale investors require.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Regan Rex King said the province needed additional baseload power and stronger transmission infrastructure to support its expanding economy.

The immediate return of generating units from maintenance could ease the shortage, but business leaders argue that this would only address part of the problem.

What Cebu needs, they say, is a coordinated plan involving the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and power distributors — one that aligns generation, transmission and distribution capacity.

The business community is particularly concerned that even new generation capacity will not solve the problem if transmission infrastructure cannot deliver the electricity to where demand is concentrated.

“We need the synergy of DOE, ERC and NGCP” to address the entire power chain, King said stressing that the solution cannot rest with a single agency or company.

The business sector is also urging power generators to improve maintenance planning so that several plants are not taken offline simultaneously, leaving the grid exposed to supply shortages.

The urgency is amplified by Cebu’s investment ambitions. The province has spent years positioning itself as a major business, manufacturing, tourism and services hub in the Visayas. But investors evaluating a location look beyond tax incentives, infrastructure and market access. They also need confidence that the lights will stay on.

Solar installations and other distributed energy sources are increasingly being adopted by businesses seeking protection against outages. But business leaders view these as defensive investments rather than a substitute for a dependable grid.

The long-term answer, they argue, is to bring more stable generation into Cebu and build the transmission infrastructure needed to support it.

The power crisis is also unfolding against a broader backdrop of rising operating costs. When electricity becomes unreliable and businesses are forced to switch to generators or alter production schedules, the economic damage extends well beyond the hours when the grid is down.

For manufacturers, an outage can mean idle workers, interrupted production, delayed deliveries and potential equipment damage. For retailers and service businesses, it can mean lost transactions. For investors, repeated disruptions can become a signal of infrastructure risk.

That is why Cebu’s business groups are demanding concrete action, not assurances.

A planned convergence of government and private-sector stakeholders on October 7 could provide an opportunity to move the discussion from diagnosis to execution. Business leaders say the meeting must produce a clear roadmap, including responsibility, timelines and investment commitments.

Cebu’s economic proposition rests heavily on its ability to attract and retain capital. But that proposition becomes harder to defend if companies cannot depend on one of the most basic requirements of modern commerce.

For Cebu’s business community, the message to government and the power industry is straightforward—the province cannot sell itself as an investment destination while asking businesses to operate around an unreliable electricity supply. The time for a durable solution is now.

Both Ynoc and King were in the Cebu Investment Forum 4.0 which opened yesterday at the Cebu Provincial Capitol, hosted by the Cebu Province Investment and Promotion Office.

The two-day forum attracted over 500 delegates, including investors from 11 countries. — (FREEMAN)