Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas wants the transmission lines for Panay and Negros to be at par with those serving Cebu and Davao to avoid more power outages.

“We want to be comparable to Davao and Cebu when it comes to having robust transmission lines so that we will not suffer three days of power interruption or blackouts again,” Treñas said in an interview on Monday.

He said Cebu and Davao do not have the kind of blackouts that hit Panay, which lasted several days.

Treñas, who sits as chairperson of the Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) of the Regional Development Council (RDC), said he will ask the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to explain what will take them to make the transmission lines in Panay, Guimaras, and Negros as resilient as those of Cebu and Davao.

The IDC is set to convene on May 15 where Energy Secretary Raphael Perpetuo Lotilla and NGCP president and chief executive officer Anthony Almeda are expected to attend.

Panay and Guimaras provinces experienced a series of power outages starting April 27 and 28 that were fully restored on April 30.

The Iloilo City Business Development Council, in a statement released following the outage, said the occurrence of brownouts “has become a matter of grave concern” for their community.

The power supply disruptions have resulted in operational challenges, financial losses, and a tarnished reputation for the city as a reliable business destination, the statement said.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., while on a state visit to the United States then, immediately ordered the NGCP to address the concern.

A congressional inquiry in aid of legislation on the power outage has also been filed in Congress by Representatives Julienne Baronda, Raul Tupas, and Michael Gorriceta on May 2. (PNA)