Manila: House Deputy Speaker Alfredo Abelardo Benitez announced that the committee on Visayas development is set to hold an inquiry next week into the persistent power outages plaguing the Visayas region. This statement was made during the MassKara Festival 2026 launch at Roy's Hotel and Convention Center.
According to Philippines News Agency, Benitez, representing the Lone District of Bacolod City, filed a resolution on September 7 instructing the committee to investigate the ongoing and worsening power supply issues in the Visayas grid. The inquiry aims to facilitate legislation that could provide solutions to these outages. Benitez mentioned that after discussions held on September 10, the committee is moving forward to seek approval from the committee on rules to conduct the hearing as planned.
Benitez confirmed that Department of Energy Secretary Sharon Garin is expected to attend the hearing, as she has prepared a strategic plan for the Visayas grid. "She wants to be present since she already has a plan for the Visayas grid. We're also doing our homework to find out exactly what the problem is," he stated. The hearing will focus on identifying the shortcomings in the Visayas grid and propose both short- and long-term remedies.
The urgency of the inquiry is underscored by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) implementing manual load dropping in the Visayas on Friday, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., due to limited generation capacity and the absence of power imports from the Mindanao grid. The available capacity at 1:30 p.m. was reported at 2,012 megawatts (MW), which falls short of the peak demand of 2,389 MW.
Over the last four months, the NGCP has consistently issued red and yellow alerts due to the inadequate power supply, leading to rotational brownouts across Negros, Panay, and other parts of the Visayas region. A red alert indicates that power supply is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the grid's regulatory needs, while a yellow alert is issued when the operating margin falls short of the grid's contingency requirements.
