SunStar Cagayan de Oro, April 11, 2007
AFTER 18 hours of suffering due to lack of power supply, thousands of residents in six Bukidnon towns heaved a sigh of relief when electricity was restored just as darkness fell last Monday evening.
National Transmission Corporation (Transco)-Northern Mindanao top ranking officer Engineer Virgilio Sanchez said their men were able to work out a way to restore power supply in all six towns of Bukidnon Tuesday.
This came about even as more trouble hit the province with a fire razing down several structures in Talakag town, Bukidnon province, some of which were owned by that town's mayor.
The cause of the fire stemmed from the bakery and damaged some structures, including a recently refurbished grocery store, also owned by the mayor's family.
Meanwhile, Sanchez said their firm and the police are still trying to determine what caused the burning down of power lines in their power towers marching on lands belonging to the Sarraga's in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon.
There were reports that several armed men were responsible for burning down the towers, though the provincial PNP office had yet to verify these claims.
"But police authorities are saying that it is highly possible that the burning of the power lines was caused by grassfire," he said over an interview with ABS-CBN Tuesday night.
The six towns affected include Libona, Manolo Fortich, Malitbog, Impasug-ong, Sumilon, and Baungon.
Some 169-volts electric transmission lines were burned down cutting off electric power in all above towns around 1 a.m. last Monday.
Sanchez said there is a strong probability that the police officers are correct in saying that the incident was caused by grassfire considering the heat that caused the grasses below the transmission lines to really dry up.
"The heat at that time might have been just too much that dried up the grasses and started the fire which found its way to our power towers and burned some of our transmission lines in that area," he said.
These six towns are known to be the location of huge poultry farms in the entire country.
Poultry growers in the area earlier lamented how the power outage is affecting their little chicks that thrive on the heat given off by light bulbs.
