Transmission tower bombed in Southern Philippines

From the Mindanao Examiner (Jan 15): Transmission tower bombed in Southern Philippines

Suspected rebels bombed a steel pylon in a fresh attack aimed at crippling power grid in the southern Philippines, officials said Friday.

The attack late Thursday targeted the Tower Number 6 of the Kabacan-Sultan Kudarat 138 kilovolt line in North Cotabato’s Aleosan town. Two improvised explosives had been detonated by rebels, but they failed to topple the steel tower, although it the blast seriously damaged the transmission facility.

It was the first bombing on power pylons in the region are being operated by the privately-owned National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). It was unknown why NGCP failed to detect or stop the bombing despite repeated attacks since last year.

“The bombing only serve to increase the burden of the public, which must suffer through service interruptions when towers are bombed,” NGCP said as it appealed anew to the military and police to help guard their facility.

The military said NGCP has its own personnel guarding the steel pylons.

NGCP also repeatedly blamed owners of private lands where the towers are located and accusing them of preventing their personnel to repair bombed power pylons. The provinces are known lairs of several rebel groups. The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and jihadists are actively operating in the region.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the latest bombing, but the attack occurred just weeks after NGCP proposed to “criminalize the planting of tress and other activities beneath transmission lines.”

NGCP said it has teamed up with local governments in Mindanao to solve the escalating right-of-way violations in the region by lobbying for the passage of a provincial ordinance to back up its proposals.

It said the intentional planting of trees under transmission lines adversely affects power delivery to the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay,
Bukidnon, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Zamboanga City, and the rest of the grid.

“Row violations, along with bombing attacks, have become the significant problems for NGCP in Mindanao. It will be very difficult for us to deliver the available power supply to distribution utilities if we continue to encounter these problems,” it said.

Land owners have repeatedly rejected NGCP’s demand unless it pays them for the use of their estate. NGCP holds the 25-year concession contract to operate the country’s power transmission network.

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