OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR RAFFY TULFO ON HIS FIRST PUBLIC HEARING ON RECURRING AND PERSISTENT BROWN OUT

Salamat sa inyong pagdalo ngayong umagang ito. Alam naman natin na matagal nang hinaing ng ating mga kababayan, lalong lalo na sa mga probinsya, ang malawakang suliranin ng brownout na lalong pinalalala ng mataas na presyo ng kuryente. Even before I was elected as a Senator, I have already been receiving numerous complaints regarding the persistent and recurring power outages coupled with high electricity rates that had been adversely affecting the economic activities and livelihood of the people in these areas.

We are familiar that the energy industry is divided into several sectors, namely, generation, transmission, and distribution. Even though they are distinct and separate industries, each one's problems affect the others. As a result, rather than applying a band-aid fix, we are here to discover a systemic solution to this problem. In accordance with this, we have invited several stakeholders from the different energy sectors to shed light on the problems and issues they are facing which contribute to these power outages and expensive electricity. Moreover, we have also invited our regulators to aid us in addressing and resolving these issues.sy