Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) has until April 17 to do an inventory of generators owned by private individuals throughout the country, which he said may be used as back-up power supply on May 10 election day.

Gonzales, who is also the NDCC chair, gave the order as he vowed not to allow power failure to be used as an excuse for the elections to fail and thus, destabilize the country.

The defense chief gave the directive to the NDCC regional directors following a meeting in Cebu City, where among the important matters discussed included the government’s preparations in case a strong earthquake hits major cities in the country.

The secretary said the NDCC regional directors have until April 17 to submit to him the lists of privatelyowned generators in their respective regions that may be tapped for use as back-up power supply on election day, as well as two days before and two days after the elections.

Gonzales, however, emphasized the presence of generators in polling areas does not mean that there will indeed be a brownout on election day. Instead, he said, this is to show the public that the government is bent on ensuring the elections will take place.

He said while the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has its own contingency plans, the NDCC will also have its own remedial measures if only to calm down the people on the possibility of a brownout during election day.

“The political environment that we have today is such that we don’t seem to trust the arrangements that have been done so far,” Gonzales noted, adding, “I think we have to assure our people that we have contingency plans at least when it comes to power failure on election day. We will not allow power failure to be used as an excuse to destabilize the country.”

The defense chief told the NDCC regional directors that after taking an inventory of all the generators and talking to their owners, they should then coordinate with the Comelec where to preposition the generators.

“We are hoping that after two weeks, you already have inventoried the generators, you have talked to Comelec, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines . . .you might need the help of AFP in terms of transport and refueling (of these generators),” Gonzales told the NDCC directors, adding: “I think we can expect assistance from local officials even if we are non-partisan.”

“Our people are worrying that the machines will not operate because of lack of power, but Comelec said it is prepared... magdala na din kayo ng pang-ilaw just in case na sadyain talagang mawalan ng kuryente.,” Gonzales further told the NDCC directors.

“Make sure that in the polling areas, there will be light and power for the machines,” he stressed.

In an interview with reporters following the meeting, Gonzales expressed optimism brownouts will not be a problem on election day because there will be generators on stand-by in case of a power failure.

Gonzales, at the same time, appealed to all private individuals who own generators to help the government ensure the elections will push through by voluntary offering their generators to be used on election day.

“We will not force anybody to give their generators for use on election day, but I am sure that the private sector will help us on this,” said Gonzales.

The secretary added, “What we are doing here is to prove once again to the ever-suspicious public that this administration is bent on conducting an election. We want the election to take place, hindi puwedeng hindi.”

He said that is the reason why there is a need to inventory all power generators just in case there will be a power failure during the elections.