The worsening power situation in the Visayas is set to face congressional scrutiny next week as lawmakers move to determine why repeated supply shortages continue to trigger rotational brownouts across the region.
House Deputy Speaker Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the House Committee on Visayas Development is expected to conduct an inquiry into the continuing power interruptions, which have affected communities in Panay, Negros and other parts of the Visayas.
“Tentatively, our target is next week,” Benitez told reporters Friday, Sept. 11, on the sidelines of the MassKara Festival 2026 launch in Bacolod City.
Benitez, who represents Bacolod City’s lone congressional district, filed a resolution on Sept. 7 seeking a House inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the continuing and worsening outages in the Visayas Grid.
The lawmaker said the committee is expected to act motu proprio after discussions on Sept. 10, subject to clearance from the House Committee on Rules.
“We are preparing for the hearing and hoping to get past the committee on rules,” Benitez said.
The inquiry comes as consumers continue to bear the impact of recurring power disruptions.
Households have been left dealing with sudden interruptions, while businesses and other establishments face disruptions to daily operations whenever supply shortages force grid operators to reduce electricity consumption.
Benitez said lawmakers intend to determine the gaps and failures contributing to the region’s power problems and identify measures that could provide both immediate relief and longer-term solutions.
The lawmaker also sought confirmation on the attendance of Department of Energy Secretary Sharon Garin at the hearing.
“She wants to be present since she already has a plan for the Visayas grid,” Benitez said, adding that lawmakers are also conducting their own assessment of the situation.
The region has experienced repeated red and yellow alerts over the past four months because available supply has been insufficient to meet demand.
These alerts have translated into rotational brownouts in Negros, Panay and other parts of the Visayas, directly affecting electricity consumers.
A red alert is issued when available power is insufficient to meet consumer demand and the transmission grid’s regulating requirements. A yellow alert means the operating margin is insufficient to meet the grid’s contingency requirement.
For consumers, however, the technical classifications matter less than the immediate consequences: lights going out, businesses being interrupted and communities being forced to adjust to an unreliable power supply.
The planned House inquiry could provide an opportunity to establish where the gaps lie from generation capacity and transmission constraints to the availability of backup supply and determine who should be responsible for addressing them.
With another round of manual load dropping already implemented, consumers across the Visayas are now looking beyond temporary fixes and toward concrete measures that can keep the region’s power supply stable.IMT
