Power back in northern Metro; LRT ops resume

(Updated 3:20 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines - Almost two hours after a massive brownout hit the northern portion of Metro Manila, the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) said it has fully restored electricity in affected areas before lunch Friday, allowing crucial services to resume operations. In an interview with QTV's Balitanghali, Carlito Claudio, TransCo's vice president for systems operations, said power was fully restored as of 11 a.m. as northern power plants compensated for the power generation loss caused by the automatic shutdown of four power plants. Earlier, TransCo said a construction accident in Sta. Mesa, Manila tripped TransCo's Sucat-Araneta transmission line and, subsequently, the Araneta-Balintawak line around 9 a.m. The tripping caused the automatic shut down of Limay A Combined-Cycle, Calaca Coal-fired, Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. (QPPL) and Pagbilao Coal-fired power plants. Due to this incident, a load drop of 1200 megawatts in northern portions of Manila Electric Co.'s northern sector was experienced, causing power interruption in Quezon City, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, Manila and parts of Bulacan. With power restored in affected areas, crucial services such as the operation of the Light Rail Transit's (LRT) Lines 1 and 2 resumed around 10 a.m. In a telephone interview with GMANews.TV, Jinky Jorgio, LRT Authority spokesperson, said the Baclaran-Monumento line resumed operations 10:06 a.m. while the Recto-Santolan line returned to its normal operations 10:45 a.m. The LRT operation stopped around 8:50 a.m. due to power outage. Jiorgio said an estimated 29,000 passengers were affected by the stoppage of their operation in the Baclaran-Monumento route alone. In the interview, Claudio said the incident could have been prevented had the contractor, New Golden City Builders, informed them about their construction operations in the area. "Dapat kasi nagpapaalam sila sa amin para walang short circuit (They should have asked permission from us to prevent the short circuit)," said Claudio. Claudio said the TransCo will study legal options to demand damages from the construction firm. “We'll explore that possibility. We will consult our legal department kung anong steps ang gagawin namin kung puwede kami mag-claim ng damages against the contractor (We will consult our legal department for our next step, whether we can claim damages against the contractor)," Claudio said. - GMANews.TV with reports from Amita Legaspi and Mark Merueñas