Failure of elections due to power failure is impossible, an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Saturday as he assured the poll body has enough safety nets.

Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer said he is convinced that a power failure on Election Day will not result in a failure of elections since the manner of voting is still manual.

“I think that’s impossible. Maybe in some remote places without satellite there won’t be a signal but I don’t think this will happen in the whole Philippines,” he said.

“Even if there’s no signal that will not stop the voting because we only need that (signal) for the transmission. We can continue with the voting and the ballots will be stocked there inside the ballot boxes,” added Ferrer.

Besides, he said, in the event such a thing occurs they are fully prepared to handle the situation because they have generators in different towns.

“We have backup generators in different towns and each PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) machine is equipped with a battery which runs between 15 to 16 hours,” Ferrer said.

So the possible problem, he said, refers only to the transmission and not to the actual voting.

“If there’s a failure in transmission we can do a manual transmission. We can bring the election results in the precinct to the municipality and the provincial board of canvassers hand carries it if there’s no transmission,” said Ferrer.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Thursday raised the possibility of failure of elections in Mindanao in view of the ongoing power shortage there.

“There can be failure of elections in Mindanao which will result in 12 million votes being lost out of the 50 million votes (nationwide). Then, we will have a problem if this will not be solved,” he said during House energy committee hearing.

With the erratic power situation, Malacañang urged the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to look into alleged overpricing by energy companies.

Malacañang issued the order after Presidential Economic Adviser and Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said that there might be manipulation in energy prices due to threats in the country’s power supply that has been worsened by the current El Niño phenomenon.

Earlier, Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez warned of possible electricity rate manipulation due to the power crisis.

“It would be good for the ERC to investigate the matter. The ERC has the power to investigate and declare if there had been any power overpricing. It will be up to them,” Deputy Presidential Spokesman Ricardo Saludo said over government-run DZRB.

He added that though Salceda has a basis for his statement, it is under the ERC’s authority to investigate the issue, saying that it has its own process.

“ERC is an independent body. It is not under the control of Malacañang. It has its own process to know if there had been overpricing done by energy companies,” he said.

Citing the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), Salceda had said that there had been notably higher energy prices last week, stressing the need for ERC to prevent any abuse by the power industry.

The current El Niño phenomenon is drying up dams in Northern Luzon and threatens a power crisis in Mindanao, which is highly dependent on hydro power.

In Western Visayas, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is ready to undertake cloud seeding operations if needed to cushion the impact of El Niño.

This was announced by DA Regional Executive Director Larry Nacionales as he disclosed that he is about to sign a contract with the Bureau of Soils and Water Management for the P3-million fund intended for Western Visayas.

The cloud-seeding operation is one of the measures that was identified by the Task Force El Niño to mitigate the effects of the dry spell which has already affected some 32,320 hectares of rice lands in Western Visayas alone.

Nacionales added though that they are very cautious with the cloud seeding because there are other commodities that might be affected such as watermelon and mangoes.

Meanwhile, Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer and former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. has proposed that national government agencies and local chief executives work together in providing conditional cash transfers and other forms of subsidies for farmers in drought hit areas.

During a recent meeting with local executives of Isabela led by Representatives Rodolfo Albano III and Faustino Dy III, Gibo also pushed for the construction of rainwater catchments in every drought-prone barangay as a long term solution to the dry spell problem.

“Sorry if they will say I'm politicking but the important thing to address right now is how our farmers and their families will eat,” Teodoro said.

Isabela was among the provinces in the north that was placed under state of calamity as government authorities placed at P1 billion the damage brought by El Niño to its agricultural sector.

As this developed, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Systems (MWSS) said it has come up with effective management water supply measures to prepare for the El Niño phenomenon as the agency denied the reported critical water supply situation in the metropolis and nearby areas it is servicing.

MWSS Administrator Diosdado Allado said that the Angat Dam elevation status of 195.71 does not show a dismal water supply situation as preparations for the lean months have already been undertaken by the agency to offset the possible rainless summer months.

Among the water management system the MWSS has been fast-tracking include the lowering of water pressure, extensive leak repairs and valving operation to balance water pressure over larger areas.

He clarified that there is no cause for panic, saying that the current water supply situation in the households of Metro Manila and nearby areas are under control.

Allado said that he was concerned by news reports picturing the water supply condition on the negative side pointing out that the intensified leak repair works of the MWSS concessionaires decreased water waste from eight percent to 10 percent.

As of February 9, leaks on various parts of the metropolis were already fixed with the number expected to increase after a moratorium was signed that allowed the MWSS to conduct its repair works.

The MWSS expressed alarm over the use of illegal booster pumps by errant households affecting the flow of water in residential places located in mountainous locations and high-lying areas like Antipolo City which is 220 above sea level.

On the side of the Local Water Utilities Administration, LWUA has moved to revive the long-shelved Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project to ease the pressure on the MWSS and the Maynilad Water Company which had to allocate part of the Angat Dam water production with four Bulacan water districts to supply the needs of their own concessionaires.

LWUA Board Chairman Prospero A. Pichay Jr. announced this in his speech before officers and members of the Philippine Association of Water Districts (PAWD) in the opening of their three-day national annual convention in Quezon City, with the theme “Water Districts: Facing the Challenge of Reducing Non-Revenue Water.”

Pichay said he has instructed the LWUA management, particularly its engineering service, to fast-track the implementation of the decades-old Bulacan Bulk Water Supply Project for which the agency had already drilled a number of infiltration wells along the Angat River in Bustos, Bulacan. He said that developing those wells and putting them into operation can generate at least 80,000 cubic meters of water per day which is enough to cover the daily allocation needed by the four water districts from the MWSS.

This means that an additional 80,000 cubic meters of water per day can be made available to water consumers of Metro Manila, Pichay said. (With reports from PNA, Aris Ilagan, and Chito Chavez)