25-hour power outage hit Central Mindanao

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February 18, 2026 | 6:34pm

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) finally restored on Wednesday afternoon, February 18, power supply in many areas in Central Mindanao, including the 37 barangays in this city, after 24 hours of outage due to technical problems.

There was no electricity in this city, in parts of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte and Cotabato provinces since noontime Tuesday after high-tension transmission lines above three adjoining pylons in Barangay Dalingaoen in Pikit, Cotabato reportedly got cut for still unknown reasons.

Supply of power to the affected areas was fully restored at about 4:00 p.m. Wednesday.

Local executives in Pikit have refuted insinuations that armed men destroyed the NGCP power relay facilities in Barangay Dalingaoen that caused 25-hour total blackout that affected some three million residents in more than 40 towns in Central Mindanao and in Cotabato City, the capital of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Bernadette Boac, NGCP’s government relations and regional affairs specialist for Southwestern Mindanao, told reporters in Cotabato City on Wednesday that the main cause of the power outage was the cut in their structural conductors in Barangay Dalingaoen.

Officials of the BARMM regional government and local executives in Cotabato province, which is under Region 12, said no fewer than 2.9 million residents were affected by the 25-hour blackout.

Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza, presiding chairperson of the Regional Development Council 12, said she will request the NGCP to provide her office with a comprehensive report on the real cause of the power transmission problem that affected more than a dozen towns in her province.

Mendoza had also asked local executives in Pikit, one of the 17 towns under her jurisdiction, to initiate an inquiry on NGCP's initial reports, citing that damages in its transmission facilities in Barangay Dalingaoen caused the blackout.

Also affected by the 25-hour power loss were the eight newly-created Bangsamoro municipalities in BARMM's Special Geographic Area in Cotabato province. 

Photo: It took Technical personnel of the National Grid Corporation about 22 hours to fix the damaged NGCP power relay facilities in Pikit, Cotabato.