Power supplies in old and new public markets are now restored by the Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO) after it agreed to reconnect the account while the city government is processing the payment for the unpaid consumption.
The unpaid consumption by the public market to PALECO resulted in an almost five-day power outage which put the vendors’ sales and products at risk.
Councilor Elgin Damasco said that the electric cooperative management agreed to restore power service late Monday afternoon while processing the payment for the overdue bill consumption amounting to P1.2 million.
In his post online, Damasco stated the acting general manager (AGM) Engr. Federico Villar, Jr. said that a promissory note is needed to present before the reconnection. He added that the bill was in 2019 and questioned which party is to blame for the disconnect. Damasco said to convene a committee meeting on Wednesday.
“Willing naman magbayad ang city, napag-usapan na while waiting sa proceso ng payment ng city government, ibalik muna nila ang kuryente which is pumayag naman ang PALECO,” Damasco said.
“Since September of 2019 ang bill na hindi nabayaran kaya umabot sa mahigit 1.2 million. Katwiran ni Mr. [Joseph] Carpio, wala silang natanggap na disconnection notice or billing from PALECO. Tiningnan ko ang received copy ng PALECO, walang tatak ng logo ng city government na magpapatunay na officially received ang mga notice ng PALECO. So, hindi Napa-receive sa right agency which is the General Services Office (GSO) ang mga notices,” he added.
New Market United Vendors Association president Leoncio Domingo said that the power supply resumed both in old and new markets late Monday which took away the fear of vendors on possible damages the power outage might bring to their agricultural products.
“Kaya masaya na ngayon ang mga vendor dito sa market,” he said.
It can be recalled that the power outage experienced on Friday in the new public market and on Thursday in the old market made the vendors rely on generator sets and also affected their sales as fewer customers were observed in the market.
Domingo previously said that if the power loss is prolonged, most products at risk are meat, fish, and vegetable.
“Noong walang ilaw, hina (ng) bentahan kasi ‘di makita paninda namin. Okay talaga ‘pag maliwanag ‘di na kailangan pilitin ‘yong customer, bibili na agad. Tapos maaga pa kami nakaraan nagsasara kasi madilim na,” one of the vendors in dried fish section said.
