TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines -- The province of Batanes was placed under a state of calamity after suffering fuel shortages beginning in June this year.

Batanes Governor Vicente Gato called on concerned government agencies to formulate appropriate mitigating measures in order to avert a serious fuel and power crisis that could compromise the health and living condition of the people.

Batanes Governor Vicente Gato said the fuel shortage in the province was caused by bad weather conditions at sea that prevented oil tankers and barges to transport fuel to the island province.

Gato said that the main island of Batan had been experiencing a power shortage.

The province is encountering rationing of power by the local electric cooperative because of a shortage in fuel to operate the power generators that supply electricity in the island municipalities.

This forced the governor to call an emergency meeting over the weekend with the National Power Corporation (NPC)-Batanes head Ernesto Rosas to address the problem.

This developed as NPC began limiting supply of electricity to the different islands of the province. It was learned that the electric power supply in Basco and its nearby islands is only available from 6 a.m. to 12 midnight and electricity in Itbayat Island is only available from 4 p.m. to 12 noon.

The NPC had purchased some 6,000 liters of fuel from a private entity to ease the oil shortfall.

Around 300, 000 liters of fuel was expected to be transported to the province when sea conditions become normal and safe for shipping.

Earlier, the first shipment of 55,000 liters of fuel to Basco on June 28 was distributed to the three islands of Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat.

This supply had to rationed over three weeks to meet power needs in the three islands until the second shipment of 114,000 liters of fuel arrived last July 14.

According to Gato, the 90,000 liters from the 114,000 liters will go to Batan Island and the 24,000 liters remainder will be divided as supply for Sabtang and Itbayat islands.

Meanwhile, Bataan Electric Cooperative Chairman Victoria A. Mata said that that fuel shortage is regular problem in small power utility grid (SPUG) areas or island groups.

She recalled that same fuel shortage was experienced in Batanes in September to October 2009 caused by the delayed transport of fuel supply due Typhoon Ondoy, which caused power blackout in Batan Island for a period of one week.

If the province will not be able to receive the required fuel supply, the province will surely encounter prolonged power blackouts and that the power will only be diverted to hospitals and other important government installations to continue their services to the people, especially following the dengue outbreak declared in one of the coastal towns after nearly 1,000 people were said to have been infected with the dreaded disease. (With a report from Dexter A. See)