NGCP: Tower bombing caused power outage in northwest Mindanao

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) on Tuesday said that areas of northwest Mindanao experienced power interruptions as a transmission line was downed following a bombing incident.

In a statement, the NGCP said its Baloi-Aurora 138 kilovolt (kV) transmission line tripped at 4:50 p.m. on October 24.

The tripping of the transmission line prompted the grid operator to implement manual load dropping (MLD) or rotational brownouts to prevent overloading of the remaining line.

“Areas affected by the MLD are the entire Zamboanga Peninsula, namely Zamboanga del Norte (including Dipolog City and Dapitan City), Zamboanga del Sur (including Pagadian City and Zamboanga City), Zamboanga Sibugay, entire Misamis Occidental, and parts of Lanao del Norte,” the NGCP said.

The grid operator said that the “tripping was due to the bombing of Tower No. 8 of the said line located in Sitio San Isidro, Brgy. Bagombayan, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte,” adding that “the bombing resulted in the toppling of the said tower.”

The NGCP said that a still unidentified individual was found at the scene with fatal injuries.

“It is unclear if this is related to the bombing. Responding authorities confirmed that lawless elements used IEDs (improvised explosive devices) to bomb the said tower,” it said.

The grid operator said the incident is under investigation.

“The NGCP is currently coordinating with the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and local law enforcement to secure the area as repair works are being conducted by NGCP personnel,” it said.

The company noted that bombings only serve to increase the burden of the public, which must suffer through power interruptions when towers are bombed.

“NGCP reiterates that the conduct of suspicious activities within or along the power transmission corridor which may disrupt the transmission of power is punishable by law, with a penalty of as much as P200,000 or 12 years imprisonment, or both,” it said. — DVM, GMA News