144 Mountain Province villages now energized

BONTOC, Mountain Province — Electricity has now reached all the 144 barangays of this province including Barangay Balili of neighboring Mankayan town in Benguet through the Mountain Province Electric Coop. but some households have yet to be energized because of the huge investment required to string the power lines to the far-flung communities.

According to Cesaria Kiat-ong of Mopreco, there are already 26,605 households that were energized as of January.

But with the National Statistics Office (NSO) 2010 projected household population of 31,130, there are still 4,525 households in some sitios that are without electricity.

In terms of villages, Mountain Province is now 100 percent energized but Mopreco is doing its best to have all the sitios energized the soonest although the rural electric cooperative needs huge capital expenditures in order to bring power to the non-viable communities in the mountain communities, Kiat-ong added.

The provincial government through a memorandum of agreement has extended P1 million financial support to Mopreco which will be used to partially fund the energization of at least three sitios namely, the upgrading and extension to Sitio Mati-im of Alab in this municipality, energization of Sitio Bansa of Monamon Norte in Bauko, and the energization of Sitio Lower Amolong of Poblacion in Paracelis.

Kiat-ong said that energization is also on-going at Sitio Pumangwaw of Barangay Banawel, and Sitio Lotot of Barangay Butac in the municipality of Natonin.

Presidential Decree 269 which created the National Electrification Administration and outlined the national government’s rural electrification program mandates all rural electric cooperatives to ensure that electricity will be brought to all households nationwide even in non-viable communities.