President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has given the provincial government of Siquijor six months to solve the ongoing power crisis in the island.

On Wednesday, June 11, 2025, Marcos visited one of the power plants of Siquijor Island Power Corporation (SIPCOR) in Barangay Candanay Sur in Siquijor town.

The visit came six days after the Siquijor provincial government declared a state of calamity because of the crisis.

At the power plant, Marcos checked the Engine Diesel Unit, Control Room, and transmission line, among others.

With him were officers of the National Electrification Administration (NEA), Department of Energy, Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative, and officials of the local government.

Engr. Jonas Tampos, SIPCOR Plant Head, said it was after the May midterm elections that the province started experiencing four-hour outages. This worsened by May 23 when outages would reach up to eight hours.

This affected households and businesses, and was felt especially by those employed in jobs online.

CAUSE

It was found that four of the six generators at the SIPCOR plant in Candanay Sur in Siquijor town bogged down. This happened while another generator in its plant in Tignao in Lazi town is under maintenance.

Tampos said maintenance work for each generator can reach up to 10 days.

NEA Administrator Antonio Almeda said initial assessment showed the outages are caused by a maintenance issue.

NEA, PROSIELCO, and SIPCOR are working together to address the problem.

RESPONSE

As an initial response, Marcos said that one generator that can supply two megawatts of power will be shipped to Siquijor from Palawan.

“We have given ourselves a deadline of six months for the short term solution. By six months from now, we will then impose whatever arrangement we have to do so that six months from now, we don’t have to resort to emergency gensets… now, we have to think even the development of transmission lines,” the President said.

According to the PROSIELCO general manager, SIPCOR can supply an average of 7.3 megawatts of power. The demand for electricity in the province can reach a peak of 9 megawatts.

Marcos challenged SIPCOR to come up with permanent solutions, level up its facilities, and look at areas where it can upgrade its systems.

As this develops, the Province of Siquijor Electric Cooperative has submitted requirements to NEA so it can be given a Certificate of Conformity that would allow it to conduct bidding for additional power supplier for the province.