Palace holds meet on power crisis as polls draw near

Amid a power crisis plaguing Mindanao, and with just weeks to go before the first nationwide automated elections on May 10, Malacañang held a high-level meeting Tuesday to discuss the problem. Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar on Wednesday said that top security officials met behind closed doors to discuss ways to address the power crisis. “Tungkol ito sa power crisis sa Mindanao at mga paghahanda para sa pagkakaroon ng maayos at mapayapang eleksyon (It was about the power crisis especially in Mindanao, and measures to ensure a clean and honest election)," Olivar said in an interview on dwIZ radio. But he declined to give further details of the meeting, saying it was an executive session. “Ang ginawa ay executive session (Tuesday’s meeting was an executive session)," he said. He indicated that security officials attended Tuesday's meeting. Rotating brownouts had plagued Mindanao in past months as dry spells caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon crippled power plants (many are hydroelectric) in the south. The power outages have caused concern among several sectors as the situation might disrupt the automated counting of votes using precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. — LBG, GMANews.TV