On Friday afternoon, Governor Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Governor David Apatang joined Commonwealth Utilities Corporation Board Chair Janice Tenorio and acting Executive Director Betty Terlaje in meeting with, and providing encouragement to the CUC power line crew members who will be traveling to Guam this weekend to assist the Guam Power Authority with power restoration efforts on Guam. Governor Palacios and Lt. Governor Apatang thanked the crew of 12 for their service and offered support while they are away. The line crew also received a blessing from Father Rey Rosal. According to CUC, power restoration efforts have already been completed on Rota; water services were also restored.
The Commonwealth Utilities Corporation line crewmembers headed to Guam pose for a photo with their family members at the Saipan airport.
Commonwealth Utilities Corporation and United Airlines officials pose for a photo with the Guam-bound CUC line crewmembers at the Saipan airport.
ON Sunday, 12 power line crewmembers from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. flew to Guam to help restore power after Typhoon Mawar devastated the island on May 24.
In a press briefing on Friday, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang joined CUC Board Chair Janice Tenorio and acting CUC Executive Director Betty Terlaje to commend and thank the line crewmembers for their service.
“We are heading down to help our sister island of Guam in their time of need. GPA has all the equipment they need; all they need is a line crew,” CUC power line crew foreman Michael Itibus Kokkun said.
It isn’t his first time to assist Guam. “When Typhoon Pongsona hit [the island] in 2002, I went there to help. This is going to be my second time,” he said.
“GPA, after Typhoons Soudelor and Yutu, they came and help us…so we have to support our sister island in return,” he added.
Terlaje said the CNMI is providing Guam “our best crew.” Ten of them are from Saipan and two are from Rota.
“I don’t know how GPA will utilize them — that will be up to GPA,” Terlaje said. “If GPA wants to put them together as a separate crew, they can do that. If they want to split our crew and assign them to other crews to help out and move things faster they can do that as well — anywhere they put them they are capable,” Terlaje added.
CUC and GPA have an agreement to provide emergency assistance to each other after a major disaster, she noted.
“With Rota’s utilities restored and operations back to normal, it is now time to lend a helping hand to our brothers and sisters on Guam, just as GPA extended their assistance to CUC after Typhoon Soudelor in 2015 and Super Typhoon Yutu in 2018 which destroyed the distribution system of Saipan and Tinian,” Terlaje said.
“We recognize the importance of standing together with our sister utility companies in the Marianas and the Pacific region during times of adversity,” she added.
Terlaje thanked GPA General Manager John Benavente and the rest of the GPA family for their collaboration, hospitality, and for welcoming CUC’s line crew.
“Their support enables us to reciprocate the assistance we have received in the past, strengthening the bond between our utilities and reinforcing the spirit of unity in the face of natural disasters,” she said.
On behalf of the CUC board, Tenorio expressed her sincere gratitude to the line crew and wished them well in their endeavor. Tenorio also thanked Governor Palacios and Lt. Governor Apatang for their support.
Terlaje told reporters that CUC has committed to provide 60 days of assistance. “We are processing on a 30-day basis so if the line crew are done before that, GPA will let us know and we will bring them back. But the CUC crew will be there for as long as GPA needs them for the restoration — that’s the agreement we have with them.”
She added, “We are not going to be there as heroes. We are going there to help them with what they need. We are not trying to be on the spotlight, or taking the limelight from anybody. What we are trying to do is to tell Guam that we are here for you. GPA has done it for us when they sent their guys here and helped our island restore power and that’s what we are offering them. GPA asked for it and we have accepted their request…. Hopefully, we will deliver as much as they delivered for us,” Terlaje said.
