NGCP gears up for midterm elections

THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is activating its 24/7 Overall Command Center starting May 10 to 16 as part of its preparations to secure power transmission operations and facilities during the midterm elections next week.

The transmission utility, in a statement, said contingency plans are already in place to monitor and quickly address any grid disturbance.

Since May 13 has been declared a special nonworking day, NGCP's critical units such as System Operations and Operations and Maintenance will remain fully staffed and operational.

Line crews, engineers, pilots, maintenance and testing, and other technical personnel are also strategically positioned in its substations to respond once there are line tripping.

“NGCP's Integrated Disaster Action Plan prescribes measures to ensure the readiness of all power transmission facilities to be affected by emergencies or important national events,” the utility said.

It added that with its security and contingency preparations, NGCP can ensure reliable power transmission services before, during, and after the elections.

The Overall Command Center is already activated as of April 29, operating from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Its functions included monitoring grid disturbances and the overall power situation per directive of NGCP's Power Task Force Election (PTFE), a special team formed to ensure the security and reliability of the transmission network across the country during the elections.

As early as March this year, the PTFE already set out various activities in preparation for this year's election season.

Globe Telecom, meanwhile, announced that it has optimized its network to ensure swift data transmission during the midterm elections.

The telecommunications company, also in a statement, said all SIM cards provisioned for election use have passed the quality assurance tests conducted by Smartmatic.

“Globe is one with the nation in looking forward to a fair, honest, and peaceful elections,” it said.