by BusinessMirror - May 19, 2015 WITH its electric cooperative mired by litigation, residents of Occidental Mindoro, an off-grid island-province in Luzon, continue to suffer from the rotating brownout that is being experienced on the island. Occidental Mindoro has a population of 453,000. On Monday even the hearing at Branch 45 of the Regional Trial Court in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, was affected by the province-wide rotating brownout. The group 100% Brownout-Free Occidental Mindoro said power went off during the scheduled hearing of Civil Case R-1681, involving a complaint for rescission of the 25-year Energy Conversion Agreement (ECA) entered into by Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc. (Omdeco) and Island Power Corp. (IPC). The exclusive ECA, Omeco said, prevents other independent power producer (IPP) from investing in the province. IPC is currently the lone IPP in Occidental Mindoro. It has, however, failed to produce power since 2007. With the rescission case still ongoing, IPC continues to enforce its exclusive contract with Omeco. The electric cooperative has been relying on the National Power Corp. to provide its power requirements. The ECA is set to expire in 2018. Various stakeholders have launched online petition calling on Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla to investigate the 17 years of six- to 12-hour brownouts in Occidental Mindoro. The petition, signed by 4,700 individuals so far, has been gaining momentum, as the daily brownout reach nine to 14 hours in some parts of the province, particularly the provincial capital of Mamburao, since Wednesday last week. Called #WantedIlaw, the petition is spearheaded by conveners of the 100% Brownout-Free Occidental Mindoro—Diana Apigo-Tayag, Annette Aguila and Patty Miranda, who are San Jose residents. In a statement, they said: “We started the petition and our online forum as a way of getting regular people like us to speak up, find out more about these blackouts, and share our plight with the rest of the Philippines.” The #WantedIlaw petition states that IPC’s “power plant has not been producing a single watt for eight years” yet when Omeco tried to invite bidders to address the power crisis, it was prevented by a temporary restraining order issued by the local court. READ HERE: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/occidental-mindoro-folk-continue-to-live-in-darkness/