Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano on Monday urged energy officials and stakeholders to treat the country’s power problems not as mere statistics but as a crisis affecting real families.

During the Committee on Ways and Means public hearing chaired by Senator Pia Cayetano on the country’s energy situation on May 18, 2026, the Senate President said the ongoing crisis should push government agencies and the private sector to move with greater urgency and consider solutions that may not have been explored before.

“Hindi totoo na may delays ang ating administration. Given the present crisis, it’s actually an opportunity because [there are] things that we wouldn’t have thought of… Y’ung mga ito hindi natin maiisip kung walang krisis,” he said.

Cayetano, who introduced Senate Resolution No. 343 on March 11, 2026 urging the Executive Branch to establish a National Contingency Framework, said the country’s energy concerns reflect broader structural problems also seen in sectors such as education and agriculture, where long-standing gaps continue despite years of reforms and government spending.

He urged officials and stakeholders to move beyond conventional thinking, stressing that the scale of the current challenges requires greater urgency and creativity from both policymakers and industry players.

“I just like to encourage the room to really — I know gasgas na y’ung ‘Think out of the box.’ Pero kapag may crisis, pati y’ung box mawawala ‘pag hindi tayo kumilos ng doble, triple,” he said.

The Senate President emphasized that discussions on power and energy should always consider their direct effect on people’s lives, especially vulnerable Filipinos who rely on stable electricity for medical needs and daily survival.

He cited a recent case involving a patient who reportedly died after being unable to use a nebulizer during a power interruption, underscoring the human cost of unreliable electricity.

“I really hope that it’s not the statistics… Numbers remain to be a statistic until you have a human face. Kaya noong may hindi nakapag-nebulize dahil walang kuryente at namatay, I hope we put a human face to our problem sa energy,” Cayetano said.

“[We’re in] crisis, so let’s find a way to get something done,” he added. ###