Locals help secure NGCP towers vs bombers

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 9): Locals help secure NGCP towers vs bombers

Safety measures are in place to prevent future bombings by lawless elements on steel towers of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in North Cotabato, police here said Monday.

Chief Inspector Julius Malcontento, the town's police chief, said residents near transmission towers of NGCP have volunteered to cooperate and work with the village officials and police in securing these facilities.

“We sought the help of local residents and they are cooperative,” Malcontento told the PNA in a phone interview.

Four improvised explosive devices were set off by suspected extortionists at the foot of NGCP Steel Tower 106 at Purok 1, Barangay Manarapan here last week, triggering power interruption in parts of North Cotabato, the whole of Maguindanao and Cotabato City.

Steel Tower No. 106 carries the 138KV line of NGCP from its station in Maramag, Bukidnon to Kabacan, North Cotabato and other parts of Central Mindanao.

Malcontento said while Tower 106 was toppled down, it did not affect the other towers, which also carry the 138KV line.

NGCP Tower 106 is located about five kilometers from the Carmen town center and situated in the middle of a banana plantation.

Malcontento said village watchmen and members of the Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPT) are helping the police identify and locate the perpetrators.

Army and police bomb experts recovered IED components used by the culprits. In the past, suspected militants-cum-extortionists in North Cotabato have bombed more than 20 NGCP steel towers in what authorities believe as a means to divert attention of military operations against them in nearby Maguindanao province.

Currently, government forces and its allies, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have been pursuing the ISIS-inspired Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in Maguindanao’s second district.

Bambie Capulong, speaking on behalf of NGCP, said restoration of Tower 106 had been completed.

Capulong said bombings of NGCP towers only serve to increase the burden of the public who will suffer service interruptions. The consumers are also made to shoulder the repair expenses of bombed NGCP towers.

NGCP continues its appeal to the local and national government, local community leaders, and the public, to help identify the perpetrators of the bombings, and to negotiate with uncooperative landowners, to prevent longer power interruptions," she said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1012171