Reviving the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, which the previous Marcos administration in 1979 billed as a long-term solution to the country’s growing power demand and dependence on imported oil, got the support of the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC).
In his lecture ‘Powering the Countryside: Rural Electrification in the Marcos Senior Era, The Nuclear Option’ at the Mariano Marcos State University on Wednesday, INEC General Manager Cipriano Martinez III described the mothballed nuclear plant as ‘a controversial but visionary option’ of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
‘With today’s rising power demand, unstable global fuel prices, and the push for clean and reliable energy, revisiting nuclear power as part of the country’s energy mix is timely and relevant,’ he said at a campus forum in Batac, Ilocos Norte.
Martinez also said the electric cooperatives established in the 1970s enabled the electrification of the sitios in Ilocos Norte and the entire country, as ‘electrification was made a national priority through the creation of electric cooperatives.’
‘It was during the Marcos Administration that the foundation of INEC and other electric cooperatives was laid. This was a decisive move that brought power to rural communities that had long been left in darkness,’ Martinez said, stressing that the program was never just about electricity, but about economic development, improved livelihood, and bringing equity to the countryside.
Martinez closed his lecture with a strong commitment from INEC: ‘Progress is not complete until every light is lit, until every child can study at night, and every family can live in comfort. In this present chapter of INEC, we see the legacy of Apo Lakay alive: in the national pledge of his son; in the local initiatives of his daughter; and in the everyday victories of our cooperative.’
He added that INEC will continue ‘until every child has a light to study under at night; we will continue until every elderly person can live their remaining years with simple comfort.’