NEWSFLASH

MINDANAO-WIDE POWER BLACKOUT, SABOTAGE EYED

Davao City, April 11, 2000 Sabotage is suspected in the Mindanao-wide blackout which left about 16 million people without electricity yesterday.

"The initial cause is that the Agus-Abaga power lines were knocked out near Iligan City," said a spokesman for the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

According to the Philippine Star, military and Napocor sources said the blackout occurred after Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas fired anti-tank rockets at the Agus-Abaga II transmission lines in Barangay Baculado, Baloi town in Lanao del Norte.

The steel post holding the 138-kilovolt transmission lines is as tall as a five-story building. The transmission lines supply power to the whole of Mindanao.

Although reports said the military was investigating possible sabotage, Southern Command (Southcom) chief Maj. Gen. Diomedio Villanueva said the power outage was "more of a technical failure rather than a security problem."

Power was restored throughout Mindanao at 7:30 last night after Napocor activated four reserve power stations in Maria Cristina, Lanao del Norte, and two power barges anchored off Davao del Norte and Zamboanga City, Villanueva said.

The Armed Forces has placed troops in Mindanao on combat alert following a series of bombings, ambushes, and sporadic fighting between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over the weekend.

Napocor officials said they have tapped the assistance of independent power producers to divert some of their power to the Mindanao grid and worked out a system wherein power would be redirected to the other affected areas.

"The sudden tripping of Agus-Abaga 138-kilovolt line cascaded through the Abaga-Tagoloan transmission line which eventually resulted in the power cut in Mindanao," Napocor officials said.

Officials said power plants normally go on automatic shutdown to protect the whole system, and that Agus power plant II shutdown after the Agus-Abaga and Agus-Tagoloan lines had tripped.

The Abaga substation and all the transmission lines emanating from the affected substation were cut-off, and these stations supply electricity to Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, and Davao cities, they added.

"We must send a team to look at the extent of the damage on the transmission lines," Melchor Ventura, Napocor media relations chief told The STAR last night.