Be careful of those live wires
By LAARNI S. ILAGAN
Fetching water for his family was supposed to be a routine chore for 11-year old Christian (not his real name) that fateful All Souls Day (November 2, 2024).
That was the final labor of love the boy will give his family.
Christian was electrocuted on his way to the water source. Unknown to him, the cut bamboo branches that blocked his path on the way to the water source got entangled with alive wire. He got electrocuted and died when he tried to move the branches out of his way.
The live wire got into the way of the bamboo branches that was cut by his own father. The father did not know that the bamboo he earlier harvested that morning fell on and cut a secondary electric wire.
If only the father coordinated with the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO), the heartrending incident could have been avoided.
The tragedy of Christian’s untimely passing underscored the alarming increase in the number of electrocution incidents in Baguio City and Benguet.
There were three deaths monitored by BENECO in 2024 due to electrocution. They all happened in Benguet — sitio Pakak in barangay Pito, Bokod, sitio Pachel, Ambongdolan, Tublay and Pangpang, Bakun, Benguet.
The three deaths were part of the 24 incidents of electrocution that happened last year in all areas covered by BENECO.
Unfortunately, barely two weeks into January 2025, five electrocution incidents were already recorded with one fatality.
Of these incidents, three happened on January 8 alone, when one died in Guinaoang, Mankayan while two construction workers got injured at Asin Road, Tadiangan, Tuba.
BENECO had been raising a red alert on these kinds of incidents, cautioning people to be careful especially those working in construction areas. In November to December 2023 construction and maintenance officer (CMO) Roy Olatic prepared a summary report of all electrocution incidents that were monitored and reported to BENECO from 2018 to October 2023.
The Olatic report emphasized the “rapid increase of incidents that started in 2020 (despite the pandemic), 2021, 2022, and 2023.” Majority or about 70% of the electrocution victims were construction workers of residential houses holding steel materials that got in contact with primary or secondary power lines.
The year 2023 recorded the highest number of incidents at 23, according to Olatic, an engineer. In 2024, there were 24 cases recorded.
This uptick in incidents mostly involved construction workers although one of them was involved with the installation of solar streetlights. Most of the victims were from Baguio City and La Trinidad.
The towns that also recorded a high number of incidents were Bokod and Mankayan (two incidents each) followed by the towns of Itogon, Atok, Tublay and Buguias (one incident each).
BENECO is aware of its task to address this concern.
The electric cooperative informed and sought assistance from concerned government agencies in Baguio City and Benguet on how to eliminate such incidents. Advisories and press releases were also released to advise and caution people.
Field personnel like linemen, meter readers and engineers were given marching orders to advise construction workers to observe precautionary measures and stay away from power lines. They are advised to inform the main office for unsafe construction work so that a cease and desist notice or order will be issued immediately.
The meter readers were also instructed to immediately report for further inspection construction activities that are already dangerously close to power lines.
The community relations (ComRel) group took a more aggressive campaign in their community engagements, pre-membership education seminars (PMES) and radio programs to hopefully minimize if not totally eliminate electrocution incidents.
Lately, the electric cooperative and the Baguio City’s CBAO entered into an agreement to coordinate with one another in giving a warning to construction sites to work properly and avoid those live wires.
The move aimed to also get rid of construction sites that have no permits.
It is very sad that cases of electrocution has marred BENECO’s efforts to provide adequate and reliable power supply to our households and businesses.
It’s just that carelessness sometimes gets in the way and lives are snuffed out. (LSI)
