The head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (CDRRM) Department and the OIC of the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) agreed that the city needs to consider putting up solar street lights.
CDRRM chief Gerard Lavadia and CEO OIC Teodoro Estoque revealed their position in response to the inquiry of Vice Mayor Jose Antonio “Toto” Veloso during the regular session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Jan. 28, 2022.
However, the 2 city officials say that replacing all the electric-powered street lights with solar-powered ones is quite difficult.
Estoque said that the CEO is looking at to place solar-powered street lights alternating with electric-powered ones.
Lavadia stated that solar panels owned by the City Government is able to power the CDRRM office only. Thus, the CDRRM experiences no power interruptions as the power from the solar panels kicks in once there is a power outage.
Reports say that the number of vehicular accidents has increased as the street lights are not working, leading to poor road visibility at night. Lavadia advised the public to drive slowly to avoid getting into an accident.
Estoque added that the supply of solar-powered lights is a challenge as the demand for these lighting fixtures has increased as there are several areas in the country still experiencing a power outage.
