Lawmakers from both the Senate and the House of Representatives pushed for a legislative investigation into the widespread power outages in areas in Western Visayas, including Panay Island, Guimaras, and Negros.

In a press release on Thursday, January 4, Iloilo City Rep. Julienne ‘Jam-Jam’ Baronda said the House Committee on Energy shall resume the investigation into the power outages in Panay Island and portions of Negros.

“The power outages that sent the entire Panay Island and portions of Negros Island into darkness since yesterday warrant scrutiny by the House of Reprsentatives in the exercise of its Congressional oversight function to safeguard public welfare," she said.

"The investigation in aid of legislation on the April 2023 region-wide power outages by the Committee on Energy relative to House Resolution 933, which we authored along with fellow Ilonggo representatives, has yet to be concluded, and yet this new incident took place, distressing the Ilonggos. It seems that those responsible and accountable have yet to learn their lesson," Baronda added.

According to the Iloilo City Congresswoman, the House Committee on Energy will continue the second probe into the power outages on January 11.

Meanwhile, in a press release, Senator Raffy Tulfo declared that he would file a resolution calling for an investigation into the blackout.

“Maghahain din ako ng Senate Resolution upang imbestigahan at mapanagot ang mga nasa likod ng hindi katanggap-tanggap na power outage na ito sa Panay island,” he said.

Tulfo, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy, said he was deeply concerned how the blackout has affected the community in Panay.

“Kaya patuloy akong nakikipag-coordinate sa NGCP [National Grid Corporation of the Philippines], Department of Energy, National Electrification Administration (NEA) at iba pang ahensya para ma-monitor ang pangyayari sa probinsya at mabigyan ng agarang solusyon ito,” he said.

In separate press releases, Senators Grace Poe and Sherwin ‘Win’ Gatchalian both uttered that the power outage was “unacceptable.”

“Hindi katanggap-tanggap na nangangapa na naman sa dilim ang ating mga kababayan sa Panay Island. Kawawa ang mga nasa bahay, mga estudyante, negosyo at maging ang operasyon ng lokal na pamahalaan,” Poe said.

She pointed out that the NGCP and power utilities should have been “prepared for any system disturbance and avert such with efficient planning and utilization of resources”, considering that a region-wide blackout had occurred in Panay back in April 2023.

Gatchalian called on the NGCP, Department of Energy, and the Energy Regulatory Commission to fasten the probe into the power interruption and implement “effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such disruptive incidents.”

“Hindi katanggap-tanggap ang malawakang power outage sa pagsisimula pa lang ng taon. Patuloy nating susubaybayan ang sitwasyon sa buong rehiyon,” he stressed.

NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza told DZRH in an interview that they launched an investigation into the incident and had requested a report explaining why six power plants simultaneously failed at 2PM on January 2.

The NGCP spokesperson cited that about 70% of the electricity in Panay Island was lost, which could not be supplied by the remaining power plants.