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| Photo 1: Lawyer Dimnatang Pasar, who is the president of the League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) - Lanao del Sur Chapter and the mayor of the municipality of Butig in the province of Lanao del Sur, conveys his support for finding a sustainable solution to end the power crisis in his province. (Jason Casas/PIA-10/Lanao del Sur) |
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur (PIA)--Seeing the drastic threat of having a total cut-off of power supply with the swelling debt of the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative, Inc. (LASURECO) to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), local chief executives of the city and towns in the province here took respective actions to help in addressing the roots and remedies for the aforementioned crisis.
During an energy summit held Tuesday, July 19, League of the Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) - Lanao del Sur Chapter President and Butig Municipal Mayor Lawyer Dimnatang Pansar declared his support as he stressed that he and his town are with the provincial government in winning the problem.
He underscored that such a concern is a major one that requires a serious approach to be able to come up with an effective and sustainable solution.
Pansar stated that this has become a perennial issue that has affected every single individual in the province, and it was due to this that he saw the extreme need to ultimately put an end to this.
“It is not only the comfort of the people. Nakasalalay rin dito ang progress ng Lanao del Sur. Walang papasok na investors kung ganito na unstable ang ating power supply sa ating province. Nakasalalay diyan ang minimithi ng ating provincial government na umunlad ang ating probinsya,” he said.
[It is not only the comfort of the people. The progress of Lanao del Sur is also at risk here. No investors will come in if our power supply here in the province is unstable. The dream of our provincial government of making progress for our province is at risk.]
Pansar conveyed that it would really take the support of each citizen of the province to have a concrete answer to their struggle on energy, and not just a band-aid solution that only tries to reduce the impact but does not extinguish the problem itself.
“Maging sinsero tayo [Let us be sincere] to confront this very serious problem. Let us be open-minded to find out a doable, effective, and sustainable solution sa problema na ito [for this problem]. Kung hindi natin masolusyonan ito [If we cannot solve this], after ilang years, magiging mataas na ang utang at hindi na kaya bayaran ng LASURECO [the debt will increase and LASURECO cannot pay it anymore],” he said.
Meanwhile, Marawi City Administrator’s Executive Assistant Omar Mohamad shared that the city government has also been affected by the news about the notice of disconnection for the LASURECO as he cited that they have been targeting to push through an event that is part of their 100 days development agenda which is the Kambalingan or the return of displaced families to their former homes in the most affected area in the city.
He said they have already opened sectors one to seven of ground zero so that residents could already start repairing their properties there but accordingly, most of them cannot do it as energy is a primary problem in the area with the electricity and water supply not yet restored.
Mohamad underscored that upon looking into the current issue on LASURECO and the energy supply of the province, they recognized as well the low collection of electric dues from member-consumers
“Ang problemang ito ay tayo lang ang makakasolve. Inaakit namin ang atensyon ng mayors sa municipalities kasi ang koleksyon sa first at second district ng LASURECO ay medyo mahina. Ang Marawi City ay nakokolektahan ng LASURECO ng mahigit P18 million. Kung sana naman tayo lahat ay magtulungan, palagay ko itong problema ng LASURECO [ay malulutas],” he said.
As of June 30 this year, LASURECO has already an estimated P13.1 billion unpaid due to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation. (CRG/PIA-10/Lanao del Sur)
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