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Philippine Daily Inquirer

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) has started investing in the hiring and training of militiamen in a bid to protect its power distribution towers from attacks, an official said Thursday.

Eduardo Cabahug, NGCP district III head of security, could not say how much NGCP has been spending for the hiring and training of members of its Special Civilian Auxiliary Army (SCAA) to secure transmission towers in various parts of Mindanao.

“The Philippine Army trains them (SCAA members) and issues their firearms, while NGCP sponsors their training fees and uniforms,” Cabahug said.

He said so far, about five SCAA companies—with at least 120 men per company—have already been organized.

“We deployed two companies in Lanao, one in Davao and two in General Santos,” he said.

Critical areas

Cabahug said Lanao, Davao and General Santos were identified as critical areas by the NGCP.

Emmanuel Abellanosa, NGCP Mindanao operations chief, said in the past, soldiers and policemen were the only ones securing the towers.

He said despite the presence of soldiers and policemen, attacks on towers continued.

Abellanosa said the military and the police could not possibly secure all the towers because they have other jobs, too.

“No month would pass without a tower bombed,” he said.
Abellanosa said from January last year, at least 12 steel pylons had already been attacked by unidentified men.

The suspects, he said, would normally strap explosives onto the base of the towers and set these off.

100 downed towers

“If you include the period when (Fidel) Ramos was still president, the count would be at least 100 towers downed already,” he said.

Abellanosa said repairing the blasted towers is costly.

The government, he said, spends between P1-P5 million in repairs per tower.

“This amount only covers the material and labor costs. This excludes security and logistical costs,” Abellanosa said.

He said the NGCP had asked the Energy Regulatory Commission to allow the firm to recover its losses from the bombed towers, but there has been no reply from the ERC.

The bid to recover losses, however, won’t result in higher electric bills, he said.

Brownouts

Late last year, short, rotating brownouts were experienced throughout Mindanao as a result of the toppling of a power pylon in Baloi, Lanao del Norte.

It was the seventh pylon blasted by unidentified armed men since October, the NGCP said.

“We are facing a blank wall about these attacks on the pylons,” Max Trinidad, head of NGCP security division in Mindanao, said at the height of the attacks. Vicente B. Corrales, Inquirer Mindanao

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