Meralco: Make Batangas hit its historic great
FOLKLORE has it that the peopling of the Philippines began with the migration of the 10 datus that fled oppression in their homeland of Borneo. They sailed the South China Sea aboard vessels called balangay and found themselves settling on Panay Island in communities named barangay. Later, some of the barangays sailed northward to start the migration that encompassed the whole of Luzon, beginning from the province called Batangan — what else but today’s Batangas?
That was the history of how the Philippines came about after the 10 Bornean datus claimed the lowlands of Panay from King Marikudo of Panay in exchange for a golden salakot. The spread of the barangays archipelago-wide had the necessary start of the settlement in pre-historic Batangan.
Today, Meralco embarks on a venture no less grandiose than that undertaken by the 10 Bornean datus that transplanted human development into the Philippine islands.
A still partially under wraps development plan of Meralco discloses Batangas’ industrialization agenda as having scope and depth no less grandiose and adventurous than that undertaken in its historic past. According to a study by the country’s leading energy distributor, Batangas’ growing tourism, commercial fishing, multi-faceted logistics services, and vast information and communications technology (ICT) sectors have the potential to become leading ones in the country.
Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas said Batangas’ geographical advantages are attracting corporate locators to its economic zones as an ideal logistics hub in the country to complement the highly congested Port of Manila and those at Subic-Clark and Cebu.
To achieve Batangas’s industrialization vision, it would need a robust and reliable infrastructure to ensure the growth sectors’ power and electricity requirements are met.
Batangas is the third-largest GDP contributor to the Calabarzon economy, after Laguna and Cavite. The higher the GDP per capita of a province, the higher the power quality requirements due to increased power consumption.
The current power supply situation in Batangas is not enough to support its industrialization plan.
Like other provinces, electric cooperatives (ECs), particularly the Batangas I Electric Cooperative Inc. (Batelec 1) and Batangas II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Batelec 2), provide the electricity requirements of businesses in the province.
These ECs are not capable of meeting the power demands of business establishments in Batangas, often resulting in frequent and long brownouts, voltage fluctuations, unpredictable supply disruptions, and other service inadequacies compounded by exorbitant rates.
Frequent power interruptions are not helping businesses in Batangas to operate efficiently and even resulting in costly damage to appliances and equipment.
Unfortunately, Batangas ECs, with their limited capital and budgets, are not able to upgrade their facilities and services to support the economic growth of the province.
There is clamor from local establishments, including resort owners affected by the frequent brownouts, to allow large distribution utility companies such as Meralco to invest and expand their franchise areas in Batangas.
Meralco is the largest privatesector electric distribution utility company in the Philippines, with facilities accounting much for the progress of 39 cities and 72 municipalities. Meralco accounts for 55 percent of the country’s electricity output.
There are already initial talks between Meralco and ECs in Batangas to forge a partnership to address the acute supply of electricity in the province.
Applying economies of scale, Meralco has the technical expertise/capability and the assets for these non-Meralco franchise areas to tap into and use, surrounded by Meralco’s distribution lines located in Batangas, Cavite, Laguna and Quezon.
Meralco has the financial capability to infuse more capital to improve consumer services through adequate investment in infrastructure, systems, and personnel training and development.
Energy security is one of the priorities of President Marcos Jr.’s socioeconomic agenda. The President believes energy security is vital in attracting more foreign investments to sustain the Philippines’ growth and development.
Batangas is on the right path toward industrialization. Next to Laguna and Cavite, Batangas has the most potential to attract businesses.
Crucial to Batangas becoming an industrialized province is having a secure, reliable, sufficient energy supply. Without this, it would be a challenge to entice investors to come and set up shops in the province.