DOE on blackout as poll fraud 'rehearsal': 'We don't want to speculate'

At least one militant group has raised the possibility that Wednesday's widespread Luzon blackout was somewhat connected to the May 13 elections, altough the government said it would not dwell on such “speculations” pending the results of the ongoing investigation. “Sa ngayon 'di pa natin masasabi 'yan (sabotage) at ayaw nating mag-speculate until we come up with the investigation and analysis of that situation,” said Irma C. Exconde, assistant director of the Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, an agency under the Department of Energy (DOE), on Thursday. At present, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is investigating what really caused the blackout and is expected to come up with a report in a week's time. “NGCP has committed that in one week's time they'll come up with a more detailed report on the matter,” Exconde said in a phone interview with GMA News TV’s “News To Go.” The NGCP had already traced the power outage's origin to the Biñan-Calaca power line. As of Thursday morning, the line between Laguna and Quezon provinces remain disconnected from the grid, Exconde said. "Dress rehearsal" The youth group Anakbayan has branded the blackout, which lasted for four hours in some areas, as a “dress rehearsal” for widespread election cheating. "We are 100% sure that today's blackout is a dress rehearsal for Monday's elections,” the group's national chairperson, Vencer Crisostomo, said in a statement Wednesday. He added that the power outage is merely “Plan B” or a back-up plan” to the “automated election fraud (AEF) of the Aquino administration.” Exconde admitted that although the DOE has a contingency plan for the elections, Wednesday’s power outage was a signal for them to consider additional preparations. “Siguro, we are given a situation na although we are prepared and we have a contingency plan, we have to do more dahil sa pangyayaring ito, at dapat pagbutihin dahil dito,” she said. — Patricia Denise Chiu/KBK, GMA News