Speak Up! On the Power Shortage Situation in Zamboanga City

We all have various personal experiences regarding the inconvenience of the power shortage and current fluctuations that occur in the city of Zamboanga. But what do residents have to say?

This is a small feature on Zamboanguenos sharing their opinion on the power shortage situation in the city. The identities of the respondents have been kept confidential. However, it is the actual responses that are interesting to note on three simple questions:

34, Entrepreneur, Upper Calarian, Zamboanga City

1. If you were to rate your satisfaction as a consumer on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being poor an 5 being excellent, how would ZAMCELCO fare? Why?

1- always blackout

2. If you had friends, relatives and guests visiting Zamboanga, how would you explain the power situation? 

Our government cannot resolve the issue, is there possible corruption? 

3. Please share an unforgettable experience with the blackouts in the city. 

When I was trying to finish something important like paper work while using the computer then blackout occurred, it is very inconvenient. 

48, Female, Government Employee, Talon-Talon

1. If you were to rate your satisfaction as a consumer on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being poor an 5 being excellent, how would ZAMCELCO fare? Why?

1. Blackouts existed since I was a child, so there's nothing new. It just became worse with climate change and so with the environment. 

41, Male, Government Employee, Suterville, Zamboanga City 

1. If you were to rate your satisfaction as a consumer on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being poor an 5 being excellent, how would ZAMCELCO fare? Why?

1- Very poor in all of its service

2. If you had friends, relatives and guests visiting Zamboanga, how would you explain the power situation? 

WMPC-Crown Dispute

3. Please share an unforgettable experience with the blackouts in the city. 

Unscheduled blackouts, while at 1 AM while you are sleeping, 

24, Male, Administrative Assistant, Recodo, Zamboanga City 

1. If you were to rate your satisfaction as a consumer on a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being poor an 5 being excellent, how would ZAMCELCO fare? Why?

1

2. If you had friends, relatives and guests visiting Zamboanga, how would you explain the power situation? 

Economic reasons and also water scarcity

3. Please share an unforgettable experience with the blackouts in the city.

Nasira ang aircon namin.

Not only can these power interruptions hamper operations and activities, but even resources can be damaged. A friend of ours said that due to the power interruptions, her television set was destroyed, and all that's coming from her TV is the audio during evening news. Luckily, her thoughtful brother bought her a replacement television but she fears that the same thing will happen with the continuous power fluctuations being experienced in her home. 

It can be frustrating especially if there's nobody accountable for the damages on household appliances that one has worked hard for. It can be embarrassing for visitors and guests, and can be difficult for people who are trying to put their best foot forward to introduce the beauty of la ciudad, but at the risk of the power situation in the city. 

To describe the sentiments of the residents of the city, bastante ya, (enough already). 

How about you? What are your thoughts on the power situation in the city? 

Effects of Zamboanga City’s Power Supply Shortage on the Tourism and Hospitality Industry

Imagine that you’re visiting Zamboanga City for the first time and are quite excited to be able to experience all that you’ve heard about the city for yourself. You have your itinerary all planned out. You’ve already made plans to taste the finger-licking curacha with the famous Alavar sauce, dive into the dessert called the knickerbocker glory, go shopping at the barter trade for imported goods and visit the famous pink sand shores of Sta. Cruz Island. You can’t wait, you can’t help it anymore, but annoying thoughts creep into your mind and your plans are halted slowly as you realize that there’s a problem: the blackout situation in the city. Bummer huh?

Cause and Effect 

During the Community Convergence Meeting: A Public-Private Dialogue held on March 25, 2019 organized by the City Investments Office, the Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative (ZAMCELCO) explained in the forum that the shortage is caused by the lack of power plants to complement the power distribution that results as systems loss.

Mismanagement of the local electric cooperative is also evident as the issue on non-payment of ZAMCELCO and Crown to their suppliers contribute to the fiasco. This contributes to the wide-scale suffering of the residents through rotational blackouts.

This is topped by the current state of drought also affecting the hydroplant resources as well as no identified means to establish a renewable energy source for the city has worsened the local power cooperative’s ability to keep up with the demand of the city.

As a result, the city has to endure rotating blackouts and fluctuation of electricity, damaging consumer appliances, not to mention inefficiency in operations.

The Tourism and Hospitality Industry 

So how does this affect mi ciudad’s tourism and hospitality industry?

One popular Korean grill restaurant and KTV in town said that at least their building has a generator that turns on every time there is a power interruption, but there is additional cost that is passed on to tenants every month. Also, because the generator is shared with various establishments and for different needs, like a membership gym and a beauty clinic, then sometimes their air conditioning is not enough to satisfy their customers and other facilities like their KTV rooms.

As for a bed and breakfast situated in a quiet village featuring a mini resort for families, the owner shared that he invested in a generator years ago, but because of the unpredictable power fluctuations, it eventually gave up and he had to uninstall it recently. The repair of the generator had to take time, and when it was re-installed, problems were reported during the time when there were bookings in the mini resort, and he had to apologize to the guests and explain the situation. 

The famous Barter Trade Center is a popular pit stop of visitors who want to enjoy shopping for goods like malong, bedsheets, snacks, batik clothing and even jewelry and many more. Compared to other shopping centers, the tenants can barely be comfortable while trying to sell their goods in the absence of air-conditioning, much more so with the rotational blackouts if all they can depend on are electric fans in their small stalls. I don’t think this is our best foot forward especially if we want to showcase the barter trade as a feature of the city.

One of the locally grown grocery stores that has two large branches and is a family-owned business says that management has resorted to generator sets to help with the blackouts. “This has been ongoing for almost a decade. Sadly, it’s becoming the norm for us. Due to the constant blackouts, we had to shell out a lot of money to replace appliances such as air conditioning, computers, even CPUS have been damaged. Generator sets and UPS have helped with the problem.”, a family member explained. 

“In this case, UPS are important especially for businesses that have transitioned all records and transactions to digital information. The programs need continuous flow of energy. But this also means that UPS are not immune to electricity fluctuations, just last month, we had to buy new ones because the one at the [grocery] counter was destroyed.”

There are boarding houses that are located in the proximity of the colleges and universities in the city. But it is on a sad note that boarding houses do not have the capacity to purchase generators and to shell out for fuel to sustain it, much to the ire of both landlords and tenants.

As for offices, mine is located in the West Coast. In the past years, management decided to purchase a generator that can power a four-story building which amounted to millions. However, despite having the resources of funds to purchase a generator, the fuel to operate it is a continuing expense, adding to the overhead expenses in terms of operations.

Source

Solutions

These establishments have decided to resolve the power problem on their own by purchasing a generator- but it can be so costly. On the other hand, inviting investors in the fields of renewable energy sources may take some time.

Despite the fact that the rotational blackouts have been ongoing for a decade now, the local government and electric cooperative have not introduced viable solutions to help address these problems. An obvious and quick solution is that ZAMCELCO and Crown also has to settle with their suppliers, as consumers have paid their (somewhat exorbitant) bills, why cannot they do the same? Where is accountability in all of this?

Personally, I have observed press conferences and fora being organized, but none have taken steps to invite investors to come to agreements and take action regarding the whole situation, nor pressure the local electric cooperative to exhaust all means to look for alternatives and to at least alleviate the condition, if they cannot do it for themselves, at least do it for the honest, paying consumers of the city.