Gov't could acquire franchises to end Palawan brownouts — Duterte

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday that the national government was prepared to expropriate the franchises of Palawan's energy providers and offer these to other operators if this would solve the province's rotational power outages.

"Yung inyong sitwasyon dito, yung inyong ilaw dito, at this late of the day of development of the country, may brownout kayo na six to eight hours. That is not acceptable to me, " said Duterte, who was was in Puerto Princesa for the Subaraw Biodiversity Festival.

While he had nothing against cooperatives and conceding that the measure would be "extreme," it might be necessary if Palawan was to develop further.

"I'll give you about, towards the end of the year, a new setup that would provide energy, enough energy to run a place, and so that it can develop and it can operate, it can move," explained the president.

"Kailangan. You will have to upgrade your source of energy. Kasi pag hindi, ang gawin ko, maghanap ako ng may pera talaga, China nangangati ang kamay niyan eh, just to get hold of development here. I will expropriate your franchise. Bilihin ko yan at valuation that is fair, just compensation, to end this impasse."

Duterte said that he would also discuss the matter further with Palawan's governor and Puerto Princesa's mayor. — DVM, GMA News