Posted in Business Mirror on April 17, 2015. RESIDENTS of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, have joined the growing clamor of nearby San Jose town against the rotating brownout that is besetting the people in the island province. Through the online campaign “WantedIlaw” on Facebook, residents called on Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla and the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Consumer Welfare Promotions Office to investigate and act with dispatch to address the adverse impacts of the rotating brownouts they continue to experience every day. The protests in Sablayan were organized by the administrators of Sablayan Opinion Board Jojo Lontoc and Ferry de Jesus. Protesters, who included store owners, tricycle drivers, fishermen and market vendors, posed for photos holding placards stating WantedIlaw, as their way of appealing to concerned authorities to address the power crisis. The protesters hope that their appeal for peaceful solution to the problem being experienced in the entire province will be addressed immediately. Various towns in Occidental Mindoro continue to endure the rotating brownouts that sometimes last for seven hours every day. In some towns, like in Sablayan, the brownouts are worse. An online petition, dubbed Change.org, was earlier launched by the group 100-percent Brownout-Free Occidental Mindoro (100-percent BFOM) composed of businessmen, young professionals and basic sector organizations to air their grievance and ask Malacañang to step into the picture. The rotating brownouts experienced in the province are blamed to the failure of the National Power Corp. (Napocor)and Occidental Minodro Electric Cooperative (Omeco) to put their act together. The Napocor, in its letter to Omeco dated April 13, 2015 said that the Minolo-Mamburao-pagasa 69-kilovolt transmission line is temporarily getting power for the Sablayan Feeder Line from the Oriental Mindoro grid. However, the brownouts continue to occur because of “regular tripping of the transmission line… due to line fault.” In the letter, the Napocor requested assistance from Omeco in troubleshooting activities. Organizers of 100-percent BFOM said they expect people in other towns to launch their own protest actions to pressure the DOE and Malacañang to address the problem. READ MORE: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/protests-mount-over-rotating-brownout-in-occidental-mindoro/