By: Emme Rose Santiagudo
Services were halted and workers of the Iloilo City Hall were sent home early after the seven-storey building plunged into darkness Thursday noon.
Mayor Jerry Treñas dismissed work at the City Hall at around 3 p.m. due to the power outage.
“To all the employees, grab this opportunity to rest and be prepared for tomorrow. We have decided to dismiss you for today’s duty because you can’t work efficiently without electric access for your computers and air conditions,” he announced in his Facebook page.
According to one of the security personnel at the City Hall who requested to anonymity, the power outage occured at around 12 p.m.
“The standby generator tried powering up the building, but it went on and off until all power sources completely shut down,” the security personnel said.
The personnel added that the generator suffered from technical problems and eventually malfunctioned.
As of press time, the technical personnel of the City Hall are still repairing the generator. They have yet to identify the main cause of the outage.
In previous months, elevators of the multimillion peso City Hall also conked out, trapping workers and transacting public inside the shaft.
