Sen. Imee R. Marcos called on more line workers on Friday, July 28, to help expedite power restoration in the province of Ilocos Norte.
While visiting the Ilocos Norte Capitol to firsthand learn the magnitude of Super Typhoon Egay's damage, Marcos bemoaned the province's delayed restoration efforts due to a lack of linemen from the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC).
"The first order of business obviously is to electrify the province. Until today, we have been very, very slow. We are going at a small rate of eight percent of the backbone," she said in a media interview.
According to Marcos, she had already visited INEC and found out that many linemen were laid off, and the management, which is currently struggling with its finances, has not trained new ones yet.
As of Friday, 78 of the province's 559 barangays had their power back.
She stated that the provinces of Tarlac and Pangasinan have agreed to send some of their linemen to hasten the restoration of power with the aid of the National Electrification and Administration (NEA).
Several local government organizations at the provincial, municipal, and village levels provide citizens with free charging stations, and as of the time of this publication, several generator sets had been sent to hospitals and evacuation centers.
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) delivered 25,000 family food packets to the province of Ilocos Norte.
