The Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) reported that damages from Tropical Cyclone Emong and the southwest monsoon (Habagat) have reached over PHP6.8 million, as it continues to restore electricity across Baguio City and Benguet.

As of July 31, BENECO said it has restored power to 96.4% of households and 98.9% of barangays within its franchise area. These follow days of widespread outages caused by strong winds, torrential rains, and landslides.

Initial disruptions began on July 30, when a landslide damaged the base of an electric pole, thus knocking out three feeder lines and affecting parts of La Trinidad, Itogon, and Bokod, as well as several areas in Baguio City.

As reported by the Philippine News Agency, BENECO community relations officer Laarni Ilagan said emergency crews were immediately deployed despite the poor weather. “BENECO is doing its best to restore power, but the weather is uncooperative,” she said. Linemen have been working around the clock to repair lines and respond to damage caused by successive weather disturbances.

Baguio City suffered the most extensive damage, with estimated costs reaching PHP4.53 million, and included four primary poles, two transformers, and 11 protective devices. In Benguet, damages totaled PHP2.28 million, covering 28 poles and six transformers respectively. The cooperative noted that these figures may increase as assessments from more municipalities are finalized.

The main causes of the outages were landslides and falling trees and bamboo that brought down power lines. Inaccessible roads, especially in upland areas, further delayed restoration efforts as linemen waited for government crews to clear debris.

“Now that most of Baguio has been re-energized, we can concentrate and send the majority of our manpower, heavy equipment, and materials to Benguet municipalities to fix damages in our backbone lines in Kabayan, Natubleng, and Saddle Atok along Halsema Highway,” said Engr. George Tait.

BENECO General Manager Melchor Licoben met with linemen and engineers earlier in the week to emphasize safety amid challenging restoration conditions. “While we want to restore power, we never compromise the safety of our people,” he said.

BENECO serves more than 250,000 connections and 145,000 consumer-members across Baguio and Benguet.

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