Comelec asks Noreco
The Commission on Elections in Negros Oriental is appealing to the two electric cooperatives in the Province to restore power in areas that were hit by Typhoon Odette in December last year, before the conduct of the national and local elections on May 9.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec provincial election supervisor of Negros Oriental, told the media on Thursday it is crucial for power to be restored and made stable to help ensure a successful conduct of the elections.
“It is critical to have electricity in the voting centers, and in remote areas for the vote-counting machines, and we are also hopeful the power utilities will also check their transformers for proper load distribution to avoid brownouts,” Castillano said in mixed English and Cebuano.
He noted that while voting hours are longer for the election this year — from 6 in the morning until 7 in the evening — and while the vote-counting machines have backup power, the batteries will only last for a certain number of hours.
The local government, Castillano said, does not have the capability to procure power generators, and so “mag-awhag lang mi sa mga poll watchers ug ubang pang volunteers nga magdala ug flashlights ug emergency lamps (we are just urging poll watchers and other volunteers to bring flashlights and emergency lamps) in the event of a brownout.”
He also said representatives of the Negros Oriental Electric Cooperatives (Noreco I and Noreco II) will be invited to give updates during a virtual meeting of the Provincial Joint Security Control Center.
The central and northern parts of Negros Oriental were the hardest hit by the typhoon, with several towns and cities left without power to date, almost two months after its onslaught on Dec. 16, 2021.
Some areas have been partially or fully-energized but Castillano said he has not received a report yet on the current status of the other areas that were badly hit by “Odette”.
Aside from residential structures, schools/classrooms that will be used for the coming elections were also partially or totally damaged, but the Department of Education has reassured that repair is ongoing. (Judy F. Partlow/PNA)
