April 17, 2015 – Residents of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro join the province-wide campaign against the 7-12 hours of brownouts currently experienced by some municipalities in the off-grid island province. The peaceful protest is part of the #WantedIlaw” social media campaign and online petition that urges DOE Secretary Carlos Jericho Petillla and the Department of Energy Consumer Welfare Promotion Office to intervene and expedite initiatives to resolve the power shortage in Occidental Mindoro. The online petition was launched by 100% Brownout-Free Occidental Mindoro (100% BFOM), a non-partisan public movement formed to peacefully find solutions to the current power crisis in Occidental Mindoro. “Brownout man sa amin, hindi naman kami powerless,” 100% BFOM posted on its Facebook page, with a nod to previous successes of “people power” protests for social change. Angelito Binoya, who signed the online petition [http://change.org/wantedilaw], said, “Sablayan is a pristine, beautiful town. Riding a motorboat going to the market place the water is so clear you could see the bottom as I remembered. Its cityhood will depend on stable power distribution.” Natonal Power Corporation (NPC), in its letter dated April 13, 2015 Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (OMECO), reports that the Minolo-Mamburao-Pagasa 69kV Transmission Line was energized on April 2, 2015 and that the Sablayan Feeder was already drawing power from the Oriental Mindoro grid. Unfortunately, it appears that the brownouts were still occurring because of the “regular tripping of the transmission line… due to line fault.” In its letter, NPC further assured OMECO that it will “conduct trouble shooting on the cause of the line problem” and requested for additional manpower from the cooperative to expedite matters. Local residents have taken to various social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter, to chronicle their brownout woes. They report that the local economy in Sablayan is badly affected by the daily brownouts, lasting 7 hours or more, with residents and business owners spending a large portion of their budgets on gasoline for their generator sets. The Sablayan protests were organized by the administrators of Sablayan Opinion Board (SOB) Jojo Lontoc and Ferry de Jesus. Lontoc, an OFW based in Dubai, provided online and social media coverage by posting photos of the protesters, which included store owners, families, and even barangay officials. De Jesus brought the campaign to the market and commercial establishments, and even helped tricycle drivers attach #WantedIlaw banners on their vehicles for maximum exposure around the municipality. The aim of the protest is to raise awareness about consumer rights and to keep issues concerning the brownouts top of mind among OMECO member-consumers. The protest is timely because In about two weeks, or on May 10, 2015, elections for the new OMECO-Sablayan Board of Director will commence. READ MORE: http://dulangan.com/hours-long-brownouts-leave-sablayan-folk-dark-not-powerless/