Photo Release

Bringing electricity to sitios: Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto, during the hybrid plenary session deliberating on the proposed 2021 budget of the Department of Energy Thursday, November 19, 2020, inquires into the status of the agency’s electrification program for far-flung sitios nationwide. Energy committee chair Sen. Win Gatchalian who is defending the DOE budget said the National Electrification Administration has a corporate operating budget of P3.9 billion for next year, P1.6 billion of which is for the electrification of over a thousand sitios. Gatchalian said about 2.3 million households still have no electricity and the government needs P25 billion for the grid extension all over the country. Recto has filed a bill to tap the Malampaya fund for the energization of the remaining households. (Screen grab/Senate PRIB)