By Emmanuel T. Erediano
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Variety News Staff
DELIVERING on a promise its executive director, Kevin Watson, made to acting Education Commissioner Jacqueline Che more than two weeks ago, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has begun restoring power to public schools affected by Super Typhoon Sinlaku.
On Tuesday, CUC linemen installed new transformers and reconnected power lines at Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School, allowing its 120 students enrolled in the summer program to do more than the limited activities available when the program began last week because most of the campus was still without electricity.
About 1,500 students are enrolled in the summer program, which provides credit recovery opportunities and helps ease the transition into the new school year.
Now that power has been restored, students can participate in more indoor activities and enjoy “a little bit more comfortable learning environment.” Things are now back to normal, thanks to CUC, GTCES Principal Derwin Johnson said.
In an interview Tuesday, Johnson said that when the summer program began, only three classrooms could be used because just one classroom building had electricity.
“The super typhoon knocked down the transformers and power lines serving the two main classroom buildings, so we had to strategize how to implement the summer program for the kids,” he said.
“We are very grateful to CUC for restoring our power because when we started summer school, we could use only three classrooms, so we had to come up with a strategy,” Johnson said.
On June 15, 2026, Che met with Watson and appealed for schools to be prioritized for power restoration as the Public School System prepared for the federally funded summer program that began June 25. Watson committed to having CUC move aggressively to restore power to school campuses before and during the summer program.
Marianas High School, the CNMI’s largest public high school, was fully re-energized two weeks ago, with power restored before the summer program began.
Johnson said that following CUC’s initial assessment of the GTCES campus after the super typhoon, crews were able to restore electricity to only one classroom building. He said CUC had to wait for additional supplies before completing repairs to the rest of the campus.
Johnson said the constant communication between PSS leadership and CUC, along with his own persistence, ultimately paid off. He recalled that whenever he saw a CUC truck driving by the school, he would approach the crew and ask when power would be restored.
Finally, on Tuesday, CUC returned with the equipment needed to complete the work.
“We are so grateful that happened,” Johnson said.
Emmanuel “Arnold” Erediano has a bachelor of science degree in Journalism. He started his career as police beat reporter. Loves to cook. Eats death threats for breakfast.
