Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Militiamen, civilians foil attempt to topple NGCP tower in North Cotabato

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 8): Militiamen, civilians foil attempt to topple NGCP tower in North Cotabato

Alert civilians and militiamen prevented what could have been another sabotage of Mindanao's power situation after a man tried but failed to topple down a steel transmission tower in North Cotabato Monday afternoon.

Capt. Antonio Bulao, speaking for the 602nd Infantry Brigade based in Carmen, North Cotabato, said a man attempted to topple down National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) Transmission Tower No. 126 in Barangay General Luna, Carmen around 4:00 p.m.

The man whose identity is still being verified used a hacksaw to cut one of the four legs of Tower 126 but fled when responding militiamen arrived.

An NGCP statement said the tower tilted and slightly affected the transmission of 138-KV power to Kabacan NGCP substation from Kibawe sub-station.

Following the incident, militiamen were deployed near NGCP steel towers.

The line provides power to North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato. It has been experiencing power outages due to bombing of Tower 141 in Kabacan about two weeks ago.

Vicente Baguio, speaking for the Cotabato Electric Cooperative (Cotelco), said the cooperative had been receiving erratic power supply from NGCP due to load curtailment being imposed by the power firm.

Due to load curtailment, Cotelco member consumers have been experiencing six- to seven-hour power outages daily.

Compounding the problem was human and nature activities beside power lines that caused power to trip and eventually brownout.

Baguio appealed to members consumers living near steel tower and power lines to help prevent power interruptions.

He said trees should not be allowed to grow near power transmission lines because they automatically trigger power to trip once they touch the power lines.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&sid=&nid=&rid=573980

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