Ileco I cuts off power from Iloilo airport for 1 hr, 43 mins
Power supply to the Iloilo airport was cut off Wednesday afternoon after the Air Transportation Office (ATO) failed to pay the airport's electric bills amounting to P5.7 million.
The Iloilo Electric Cooperative I (Ileco I) which supplies electricity to the P8-billion airport disconnected its supply from 1:05 p.m. to 3:48 p.m., according to ATO Western Visayas manager Alan Java in a telephone interview.
Java said the airport's operations was unhampered despite the disconnection to the electric cooperative because they switched their power supply to their emergency generators.
Ileco I resumed its supply after Iloilo Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. intervened and after the ATO assured the electric cooperative that it will settle its liabilities within seven working days.
Engr. Wilfredo Billena, Ileco I general manager, said they were forced to cut off the airport's power connection because they could not sustain shouldering the airport's liabilities with their power suppliers including the National Power Corp. Avon River Corp. and North Negros Geothermal Plant.
The airport consumes electricity amounting to P2.2 to P2.3 million a month, said Java. But he said they are still operating on their old monthly budget for electricity of P241,000 when the airport was still in Mandurriao District in Iloilo City.
The airport in Sta. Barbara and Cabatuan towns started operating on February last year and is considered one of the most modern and best equipped in the country.
Java said they are still waiting for the implementation by the Department of Budget and Management of the adjusted budget for the Iloilo airport.
Billena said the ATO paid around P2 million two weeks ago for their arrears but still has P5.7 million as payable covering the its consumption for the months of March and April this year.
He said they will wait for ATO to comply with its assurance that it will fully pay its arrears within seven working days. But he said they would be forced to cut off the airport's electric connection again if the ATO cannot settle its bills,
"We have to disconnect. We have no alternative," Billena told reporters here yesterday.