Eighteen days after Typhoon Odette, the Visayan Electric Co. on Monday reported that 28 percent of the 474,182 households and establishments in Metro Cebu have been reenergized.
In its update on Monday, Visayan Electric Co. said that 132,397 customers whose electric lines were cut off during the December 16 onslaught of the typhoon now have their lights on.
This development came as Cebu’s largest power distribution firm restored 388 or 71 percent of the 544 power line segments in its franchise area destroyed by “Odette”.
“Restoration is taking longer in areas where Visayan Electric’s distribution facilities sustained heavy damage such as toppled poles, downed wires, and damaged transformers,” the statement posted on Aboitiz Power Corporation’s social media page said.
The statement said linemen will continue working on the reconnection of power lines.
The company committed to reenergize Metro Cebu until the January 10 deadline set by the national government, through the Department of Energy.
“Our linemen from Visayan Electric, together with the engineers and crews from various distribution utilities from all over the country, have been working 24 hours a day and will continue to work through the holidays to clear lines and restore power at the soonest and safest time,” it said.
In a message, Kenneth Cobonpue, chair of the Regional Development Council in Central Visayas (RDC-7), said the Cebu Electric Cooperative III servicing towns and component cities in Cebu province have restored the Pinamungajan Substation that enables power to now be supplied to the municipality and its neighboring town of Aloguinsan.
“The past two years of 2020 and 2021 had been years filled with heartbreaking tragedy, with so many of our fellow Cebuanos having suffered too much along the way. Our hearts remember with deep sorrow those whom we have lost, in the many valiant battles fought in these past two years. We will never forget them, and we will cherish them forever,” he said.
Cobonpue, an internationally renowned furniture designer and spokesperson of Project Balik Buhay, urged Cebuanos to look forward to whatever the new year may bring.
He said that with unwavering faith, steadfast hope and persevering courage, Cebu remains determined to face and overcome whatever challenges that may come the way.
“(Let’s) show to the world the true indomitable spirit of the Cebuanos, that no virus, no typhoon will be too great for us to overcome, no obstacle too difficult to hurdle, no challenge too steep to surmount,” he added.
Source: Philippines News Agency
