Siquijor power firm resumes full operations

MANILA, Philippines — After Siquijor was placed under a state of calamity due to crippling blackouts that disrupted utilities services and business operations, the island’s power supply has been restored to its full supply capacity and is ready to meet the daily peak demand.

According to the Siquijor Island Power Corp., the island’s lone power supplier, Sipcor has implemented a series of corrective measures on its generation and distribution facilities.

Sipcor, a subsidiary of the Villar Group’s Prime Asset Ventures, supplies power to the Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative (Prosielco), which distributes electricity on the island.

“Over the past weeks, corrective maintenance was implemented to fully restore the shortfall of power supply... A generator set was repaired while two rental units were deployed to provide additional capacity,” Sipcor said.

The efforts have brought back a 24-hour power supply to the entire province, it added.

Sipcor vowed to “continue to intensify technical operations and strengthen daily evaluation and assessment to ensure a steady and reliable power supply in Siquijor.”

The Energy Regulatory Commission is set to launch a public inquiry into the power outages in the province and has ordered Sipcor, Prosielco and National Power Corp. to appear at a public hearing on July 3 to explain the prolonged blackouts in Siquijor.