PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Dionardo Bernardo Carlos ordered the Bangsamoro Autonomous Regional Police Office to conduct a thorough investigation on the bombing of a National Grid Corp. of the Philippines’ (NGCP) transmission tower on Thursday.

“The investigation will establish what really transpired. We are also coordinating with NGCP and other possible witnesses of the bombing incident,” Carlos said in a statement on Saturday.

He added that the PNP strongly condemned “this terroristic act” that only brought more suffering to people in affected communities.

“The PNP understands that this incident will further burden the public as service interruption of power supply is inevitable,” Carlos added.

“The PNP will exert all effort to identify and arrest those responsible,” Carlos continued.

Meanwhile, the NGCP announced in a statement that the repair of tower 65 will commence as soon as the area was secure.

“This transmission line segment has been unenergized since September 2021 due to [the] sabotage of its insulators by still unknown individuals,” the NGCP statement said.

The NGCP added that tower 65 of the Agus 2-Kibawe 138 kV, located in the municipality of Maguing, Lanao del Sur, was the latest to be attacked.

The NGCP also said the bombing of the tower was an additional burden to the public as the sabotage caused service interruptions.

A privately owned corporation, the NGCP was created on Jan. 15, 2009 through Republic Act 9511, enacted for Philippine franchise businesses engaged in high-voltage electricity transmission systems.

It was a consortium of three corporations, namely the Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp., Calaca High Power Corp. and State Grid Corp. of China.