The Kabataan Party-list (KPL)-Tarlac denounced the 20-hour blackout on April 5 in several towns in Tarlac and Nueva Ecija under the Tarlac I Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Tarelco 1). The private National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and Tarelco 1 must be held accountable for the failure in electricity service to the public, it said.

On March 28, NGCP announced the blackout schedule within Tarelco 1’s coverage to be from 4:00 AM to 5:00 PM on April 5 due to reported maintenance of power lines. However, it lasted until 11:00 PM.

The power interruption severely burdened residents of the two provinces that day, especially with recorded temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius. Complaints and frustrations flooded the Facebook pages of NGCP and Tarelco.

According to KPL-Tarlac, this heavily affected students’ learning as it disrupted their activities and tasks such as projects. “Students are obviously severely impacted by such blackouts, compounded by the crisis of neoliberal education that burdens them,” the party stated.

On April 6, three more power outages were recorded within Tarelco 1’s coverage area.

KPL-Tarlac said this is clearly the effect of the ongoing privatization of public services like electricity and water. “Control of ideally high-quality and freely accessible services to the public remains in the hands of a few capitalists and corporations,” the party said.

NGCP was established in 2009 to privatize the operation, maintenance, and assets of the National Transmission Corporation, a government-owned and -controlled corporation. This was part of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) passed in 2001.

A senate hearing in mid-2023 revealed that NGCP’s profits reached ₱286 billion since 2009. Of this, ₱208 billion was distributed to company shareholders and not reinvested to improve transmission infrastructure. The company’s profits grew due to its high service charges.

Among the platforms pushed by Kabataan Party-list for the 2025 elections is the promotion of free and high-quality basic social services. This is outlined in the 6th agenda of KPL’s 10-point agenda.