The
last time I looked, the mountain of Leyte was showing itself in full
magnificent glory, breathtakingly beautiful.
That
was last January when I covered the swim of Atty. Ingemar Macarine a.ka. Pinoy
Aquaman in Canigao Channel. Although, we stayed there for only thirty minutes
in Barangay Guadalupe in Maasin City, the mountain of Leyte awed me.
And
last week, I saw her again. The mountain
transfixed me in awe as we arrived in Leyte for a facility familiarization tour
and power transmission briefing by the National Grid Corporation of the
Philippines (NGCP).
 |
Mary
Hope Arcenal receives a warm hug from Mayor Richard Gomez.
Courtesy:
Ric Obedencio
|
Our
group — Lito Responte (dyTR), Mike Ligalig (Bohol Tribune/Agence
France-Presse), Angeline Valencia (Bohol Chronicle/PNA/Freeman), Ric Obedencio
(Bohol News Today/Freeman), Andy Nalzaro (Bohol Balita Daily News), Fred Amora
(Radyo Jagna), Frony Narisma (Bohol Tribune), Jessa Agua- Ylanan (DA 7 Bohol
media liaison officer), Maryknoll Joan Porpor (Magic 92.7 FM), Ern Pahayahay (dyTR), Mary Hope
“Dice” Arcenal (Bohol Light Company, Inc.), Rey Anthony Chiu (Philippine
Information Agency –Bohol) and Janet Lim Villarojo (Effective Development
Communication Unit)— was the latest batch to be invited by Betty Martinez,
spokesperson of NGCP –Visayas who, we soon found out, was an energetic
multi-tasker who could talk about power supply as fast as she could shuttle
from one project/meeting to another.
We
took an early trip to Cebu City. Travel time was two hours. At Cebu Pier, Maam
Betty accosted us and made things easy for us to the next level of our sea
travel. We took the 11 a.m. boat going to Ormoc City. The three-hour trip gave
us the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of Leyte from a distance. It also
gave us breathless feeling when we saw islands/islets.
At
the Ormoc City port, we were reminded that Ormoc City is part of Leyte.
Leyte
is divided into two provinces: Leyte and Southern Leyte.
Asked
in jest if we had time to see Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez, the city’s main
tourist attraction, Maam Betty (so casual and so unpretentious that’s why she’s
so easy to love) said, “We will find time!”
And she did find way to arrange our courtesy call to Mayor Gomez.
From
the pier, the group proceeded first to the NGCP’s Leyte Area Control Center
where the group had an NGCP Power 101 briefing.
It
was an opportunity for us to know how the facilities operate and how power
interruptions takes place.
We
all know that the province of Bohol is fully dependent on Leyte for power. And
our visit was timely after Bohol had experienced the 21-hour total power outage
in December last year.
 |
Ormoc
City Mayor Richard “Goma” Gomez
warmly welcomes the members of the Bohol media
and
NGCP personnel. Courtesy: Ric
Obedencio
|
We
learned that NGCP is a privately owned corporation in charge of operating,
maintaining, and developing the country's state-owned power grid, an
interconnected system that transmits gigawatts of power at thousands of volts
from where it is made to where it is needed.
Its
network of interconnected transmission towers and substations serves as the
highway where electricity travels from various energy sources to the smaller
thoroughfares of distribution utilities and electric cooperatives until it
reaches the households.
NGCP's
task is to ensure that the country's transmission assets are in optimal
condition to convey safe, quality, and reliable electricity. NGCP does this
through regular inspection and repair of lines and substations, clearing of
Right-of-Way obstructions, and timely restoration during and after natural
disasters.
Reliability
of power is the company's utmost priority so it closely monitors the grid and
immediately responds to any system disturbance. NGCP acts as System Operator
that balances the supply and demand of power to maintain the quality of
electricity that flows through the grid.
Bulk
of the NGCP Ormoc Substation (Visayas Operations District 1) supply is
primarily from geothermal power plants plus latest sources from solar.
Bohol
has a declared maximum capacity supply of 90 megawatts from Leyte to Bohol via
Ormoc-Maasin-Pitogo-Ubay submarine cable.
The
actual power supply to Bohol ranges from 55-56mw, while the average supply at
night is at 60mw.
The
personnel of the NGCP told us that Bohol’s competitive edge as an investment
destination is negatively affected until Bohol can find alternative power
sources.
At 5 p.m., we hurriedly went to Ormoc City
Hall. Goma is running the 110 barangays.
The
people of Ormoc have seen the kind of work that Lucy and Goma have been doing.
“Maayos at matino,” said a staff.
The
mayor’s office staff said that Goma’s work ethic that he learned in showbiz in
his work as a public servant is timeliness.
“Pag
sinabing we start work at 8 o’clock, dapat before 8 o’clock ready na kami,”
said another staff.
 |
Members
of the Bohol Media and personnel of the National Grid Corporation
of the
Philippines and Energy Development Corporation at Tongonan Geothermal
Plant in
Ormoc City. Courtesy: Ric Obedencio
|
Goma’s
three priority projects are:
“No
1 is peace and order. No. 2 is tourism. No 3 is for Ormoc to be
business-friendly,” said Goma.
“Ginagaya
nga namin yung Bohol because you are one of the places na very successful ang
tourism program ninyo,” Goma told members of the Bohol media.
He
added, “Our thrust in Ormoc is to promote tourism, because we believe that ‘pag
tourism, walang masyadong kalaban where you welcome people. You make them happy
and at the same time, when people come sa isang lugar, you want them to spend
money.”
What
can tourists see in Ormoc?
“One
of them is our Lake Danao, parang Taal Lake. It’s very beautiful.”
Other
attractions in Ormoc City are the Lake Kasudsuran, Lake Janagdan, Punta dela
Reina, Ormoc’s oldest bridge, and sugar cane and pineapple plantation.
“We
are aiming Ormoc to be a tourist destination. Maybe we are not as beautiful as
Bohol but we have some areas that we can be proud of like Lake Danao,” said
Goma.
While
Goma was talking to us, I’d noticed that the women attentively listened to him with sparkling eyes! Goma, afterall, is still a hunk who is making
women — and other creatures besides — swoon.
Daghan na-dalaga og
balik! Ha! Ha! Ha!
We
were billeted at Ormoc Villa Hotel where we had a sumptuous dinner together
with Ormoc-based media — Robert Dejon (PDI/GMA News), Lalaine Marcos-Jimenia,
publisher of the Eastern Visayas Mail, Elvie Roa, et al.
The
following day, we attended the briefing of Energy Development Corporation (EDC)
facilitated by NGCP particularly on geothermal power plant.
The
EDC personnel explained that since the Philippines is found in the Pacific Ring
of Fire, the common heat source is magma, which transfers the heat from the
earth’s core, where temperatures reach over 5,000 C.
The
presence of water must be positive in a geothermal system. The water beneath
the earth turns into that all-important steam used as geothermal energy.
They
said that geothermal developers must take care of the forests because without
trees, water will just run off to the rivers and seas and leave geothermal
reservoirs empty.
From
EDC Building, we went to visit the Tongonan Geothermal Reservation. We missed the visit to the Tongonan Hot
Spring National Park. Maybe next time.
The Tongonan Hot Spring National Park has a medicinal pool, a geyser
that spurts hourly, and formations exuding sulphuric vapors. We were told that
wild pigs, monkeys, deers and birds are also fund in the park.
Of
course, we didn’t leave Ormoc City without buying pineapples and moron, and
visiting the Saints Paul and Peter Parish Church where Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres
and Mayor Goma tied the knot in 1998.
At
past 1 p.m., we left Ormoc for Maasin City. We dropped by at the Albuera Town
Hall and had photo ops with Mayor Rosa Meneses.
The town rings a bell? We had a stop-over in BayBay City to see the Visayas
State University (formerly Visayas State College of Agriculture). It has a
total land area of 1, 479 hectares that extends from the shores of Camotes Sea
to the top of Mt. Pangasugan.
The
group arrived in Maasin City at around 5 p.m., and proceeded to the NGCP-Maasin
Substation, where Bohol province gets its power supply via Pitogo island-Ubay.
The
NGCP has upgraded the second line, or Line 2 to the Leyte-Bohol grid that
supplies electricity to Bohol through submarine cables.
“Line
2 has been in place to ensure continuous power supply in the future,” said
Engr. Giovanni Torralba.
Hitches
in Leyte grid clutched the whole Bohol to another total power outage on Dec. 4,
2016 which lasted for 20 hours. And we got irked for that.
We
stayed at Villa Romana Hotel. We capped the night with a sumptuous dinner
together with Ormoc-based journalists- Jani Arnaiz (Inquirer), Monching Buyser
and Frank Bandibas of dyDM-AM Maasin.
Others went to the city to buy slippers, while others had a video-k
session.
Unfortunately,
we spent barely 24 hours in Maasin City and proceeded to Bato, Leyte for our
trip back to Bohol.
So
much to see, so little time!
From
the boat going to Ubay, I took a fleeting glimpse of the mountain of Leyte
glittering in the summer sun. It seemed to bid us goodbye, inviting us to visit
again. Paging Maam Betty! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Thank you NGCP for the great experience. Thank
you Maam Betty! Thank you Ms Michelle Visera! Thank you Ms Ma. Edna Legaspina!
***
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