San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza on Monday, Sept. 7, called the recurring brownouts across the Visayas a “systemic warning,” urging power sector stakeholders to reform the energy system rather than return to fossil-fuel dependence.
Alminaza, in a Facebook post, said the ongoing power interruptions severely affect hospitals, schools, businesses, and family life.
He opposed suggestions that Negros should construct more coal-fired or liquefied natural gas power plants to solve the power crunch, stating that decisions made today risk locking communities into decades of volatile fuel prices, pollution, and carbon emissions.
Alminaza said the underlying issues behind the energy crisis, include inadequate reserve margins, prolonged plant outages, transmission bottlenecks, weak inter-island grid connectivity, and regulatory delays.
He said the true challenge facing the region is building renewable energy, reliability, affordability, and energy security simultaneously, rather than treating clean energy and grid stability as opposing choices.
To address these systemic vulnerabilities, the bishop proposed the creation of a Negros Energy Resilience and Just Transition Roadmap.
He called on the provincial government, led by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, to convene key stakeholders within the next three months.
This multi-sectoral group would bring together the Department of Energy, the Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, utilities, local governments, civil society, and consumer representatives to establish clear priorities and assigned responsibilities, Alminaza said.
The proposed roadmap outlines five core action areas focused on grid stability, immediate protection, and long-term sustainability.
It calls for publishing transparent public assessments of plant outages and grid risks, alongside deploying rapid resilience measures such as solar-plus-storage backup systems for critical facilities like hospitals and water systems within 12 to 24 months.
The plans also emphasizes expanding distributed clean energy resources, coordinating long-term transmission upgrades, and establishing formal participatory safeguards to protect consumers and vulnerable communities during the transition.
Alminaza said that the current power shortages must serve as a catalyst for grid modernization and clean energy expansion rather than a reason to regress.
A just transition must protect local livelihoods, safeguard the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and ensure that the financial burden of energy reform does not fall on those least able to bear it, ensuring a dependable and affordable energy system for future generations, he said.*
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