At dawn today, the still unidentified suspects adorned two steel towers carrying 138 kilovolts of electricity with bombs, toppling Tower 26 in Poona Piagapo town, and damaging the two legs of Tower 22 in Kauswagan, the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) reported.
The suspects had not been identified as of press time.
“The suspects were apparently also celebrating the New Year but in such a destructive way,” said Edwin Buenaventura, chief security officer of TransCo.
Buenaventura said they are now coordinating with the Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade and with local policemen to secure engineers tasked to repair the blasted towers.
Engr. Fernando Lluisma, officer-in-charge of TransCo’s Iligan office, related that four mortar ammunitions were tied to the legs of Tower 22 that supplies electricity to the Abaga (in Balo-i, Lanao del Norte) and Aurora (in Zamboanga del Sur) substations.
Only two exploded, around 2 a.m.; the other two were detonated by bomb experts this morning.
Tower 26, on the other hand, was completely toppled at around 1:30 a.m. Experts are yet to determine the kind of bomb used in toppling the structure. The tower is part of the Abaga-Tagoloan power line, which supplies electricity to Northern Mindanao.
As of press time, engineers are still on the way to investigate the case and to repair the damage.
Lluisma said the blasts have caused no power outage yet but they are expecting problems when demand peaks, especially at night. (Violeta M. Gloria / MindaNews)
