This week powercuts have been continuous, I think on average 8 hours a day there's no power. The news trickling through is that out of 4 generators in Marinduque's floating power-house, only 2 actually work, and powercuts are being scheduled in sequence through the towns in order to reduce the overall power load .. your luck depends on where you live .. areas like the capitol have less powercuts, and unlucky areas like Buenavista get to enjoy the clear and dark night skies (actually this week wasn't even good for stargazing .. a full moon ruins that!)
It doesn't make sense that an island that can run on just a few megawatts of power (I think the average full load consumption is around 6 or 7 MW) is being crippled this way .. The three major issues that keep Marinduque from joining the rest of the world in the 21st century are availability of internet, abysmal healthcare and daily powercuts ..
I really wonder what the powers that be here are doing about the situation - tourists who visit are definitely not prepared for daily outages and candlelit nights - and anyone trying to improve tourist facilities and resorts must be having a really hard time! I'm pretty sure the locals get annoyed too, and it's quite obvious that solving the power problem will give Marinduque a large economic boost that it really needs. The local government needs to be doing a lot more in this respect.
addendum: as if by magic, power went out just as I finished typing this article .. 10.45am .. the generator is low on petrol too - so i'll go buy some petrol - come back - post this .. and go enjoy the great outside!
