Photo courtesy of PNA
Families in two remote Ilocos Norte communities can now use electricity directly from their homes after a rural electrification project connected 101 households that previously depended on charging facilities elsewhere.
The new connections cover 66 households with 99 residents in Barangay Bagut in Dingras and another 35 households with 43 residents in Barangay 16 in Sarrat.
Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative general manager Cipriano “Perry” Martinez III said the project forms part of continuing efforts to reach pockets of households that remain without electricity despite the province’s 559 barangays being classified as fully energized.
Martinez said the remaining gaps are typically found in isolated sitios where only three or four homes may still lack individual power connections, making electrification more challenging.
The beneficiaries marked the completion of the latest project during a ceremonial switch-on at INEC’s main branch in Dingras on Friday, coinciding with the 109th birth anniversary of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
The cooperative traced the rural electrification drive to Presidential Decree No. 269, signed in 1973, which expanded the National Electrification Administration’s role in organizing and developing electric cooperatives toward wider electricity coverage.
Barangay Bagut chief Marcelo Castillo welcomed the project, saying electricity would give residents better access to resources and help improve everyday life, while Barangay 16 chief Manuelito Agoto highlighted the benefits for students who can now study more easily at home.
For INEC, the latest connections represent part of the remaining work needed to bring household-level electricity access to isolated areas, where reliable power can support education, livelihoods, food preservation and other basic needs.