Bayan-Negros condemned the 48-hour power outage in the barangays of Handumanan, Alijis, Mansilingan and other areas in Bacolod City on August 23-24. Around 42,000 households lost power because the 37 megawatt ampere transformer at the Alijis substation broke down and Negros Power was incompetent in repairing the facility.

“This incident is a preview of what consumers in Central Negros will have to face under the management of the Razon-owned Negros Power through the joint venture deal of Negros Electric Power Corp,” the group said. This is an example of the failure of privatization that promises to deliver better services. Behind the promises, the power outage revealed the unpreparedness and incompetence of Razon’s private company to manage this critical infrastructure on the island.

“The local government was so hell-bent on railroading the takeover of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO), going so far as bribing consumers into consenting to the joint venture agreement, and yet they could not foresee such problems ahead and make actionable steps that will not make consumers suffer,” the group said. The power outage is also the effect of the layoff of more than 300 CENECO workers, which included linemen who have decades of experience in troubleshooting problems during outages, it said.

“This is exactly how privatization work: the pursuit of profit at the expense of public service,” Bayan-Negros said. The island has one of the highest prices per kilowatt hour (kwh) for electricity. In Northern Negros, the bill was ₱15.79/kwh in July. In Central Negros, the bill was at ₱13.34/kwh in July, from ₱12.76/kwh in June. Meanwhile, Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (NOCECO) raised its charge by ₱1.31/kwh, from ₱14.80/kwh in June to ₱16.11 in July.

Bayan-Negros revealed that Razon also intends to buy the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative (NOCECO) in Southern Negros.

While the power outage was happening, the private company Primewater of the Villar family announced that some barangays of Bacolod City would be without water service.

“Prior to this announcement, Primewater has already been an utter failure in its promises to develop the service of the Bacolod City Water District (BACIWA),” the group said. This is because the service remains irregular and the water flowing from the taps remains brown.

The group is aware that Bacolodnons and Negrosanons face not only the problem of public utilities. It says under the mayor of the city, Albee Benitez, the interests of big companies prevailed in matters of land, housing and even in the island’s seas.

Bayan-Negros calls on Bacolodnons and Negrosanons to unite and act to ensure basic services are for the people, and not just for the greed of a few.