CLARK FREEPORT ZONE — Primelectric Holdings Inc. President and CEO Roel Castro called for stronger electricity distribution infrastructure, better operational preparedness and greater technology investment in an opening keynote at a national resilience summit Nov. 3, 2026.
Castro spoke at i4C.PH 2026: Resilience Reimagined, held at the SMX Convention Center Clark in Pampanga province. Government, defense, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure leaders attended the three-day event to discuss emerging threats and ways to help the country withstand disruptions.
He said Primelectric builds resilience into its operations through improved power supply management, infrastructure modernization, distribution network upgrades and workforce preparedness.
The company’s strategy includes investments in flexible grid systems, operational safeguards and technology, along with regular employee training, refresher programs and emergency simulations.
Primelectric is the parent company of MORE Power in Iloilo City, Negros Power in Bacolod City and Bohol Light in Tagbilaran City.
Castro said resilience goes beyond restoring electricity after an outage. It requires anticipating disruptions, investing in infrastructure, improving systems and ensuring personnel can respond to emergencies, he said.
His remarks come as the electricity sector faces continuing challenges, particularly in the Visayas, where power plant outages and transmission constraints led the Department of Energy to take steps to stabilize the regional grid in September.
In a Sept. 7 report, the department said it planned to deploy 253 megawatts of battery energy storage capacity across Cebu, Panay, Leyte and Negros to provide grid support when generating units unexpectedly go offline. It also cited transmission constraints and recurring plant outages as problems requiring infrastructure improvements and stronger operational accountability.
Generation and transmission problems are separate from distribution, but the developments show the importance of strengthening every part of the power delivery system.
In Bohol, Primelectric acquired a 70% stake in Bohol Light in 2024 and committed at least P1 billion pesos to rehabilitate and modernize the utility’s distribution assets. The provincial government kept the remaining 30%.
Bohol Light’s 2026 priority projects include a 69-kilovolt sub-transmission line linking the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ Corella Substation to San Isidro, additional distribution feeders in Dampas and Poblacion, and automatic circuit reclosers and load break switches.
The utility also plans to upgrade its Cabawan and San Isidro distribution lines from single-phase to three-phase systems, build a transformer testing facility and adopt a Geographic Information System to improve monitoring and management of network assets.
Bohol Light reported 24,138 subscribers about a year after Primelectric took over management. New connections rose from 207 in 2024 to 509 in 2025, according to company figures presented in January.
The i4C.PH summit ran Nov. 3-5 and drew representatives from government, industry, academia and critical infrastructure sectors to examine the linked challenges of physical security, disaster risk management and cybersecurity. Its program included the NerveCenter Crisis Simulation, which put participants through realistic infrastructure disruption scenarios requiring coordinated responses from government and private-sector organizations.
Risk management expert Augustus Caesar “Ace” Esmeralda organized the summit with Ace and Associates Risk Management Inc. and Resilient.PH.
Castro said distribution utilities play an increasingly important role in national resilience because hospitals, telecommunications, water systems, businesses, government services and communities depend on reliable power during emergencies.
Resilient power systems must be built before disasters strike, he said, through sustained investment, technological innovation, preventive maintenance and a workforce ready to respond when critical services are disrupted.