The Great Panay Blackout of 2023

No water or electricity for 2+ days

There was no warning.

The Sunday before, they turned the power off for 12 hours to do maintenance. Yes, in the middle of summer, they left most of the population of Panay Island without even a fan to keep the air moving. As if that wasn’t heartless enough, for reasons unknown to us, the water stops flowing at the same time.

But we didn’t know that on Sunday because we took off for a resort and spent the day in the shade because two of us were still sick from the great flu of 2023 and we couldn’t handle the heat.

The flu would take down my wife and my son early this week, having had its way with my daughter and me the week before. Thankfully, when the blackout did hit, most of the fevers were over. Zoey had just gotten out of school because it was quarterly finals and she finished her tests early. We were all exhausted from dealing with my wife and toddler’s fever early in the week and were relaxing in the cool AC, trying to survive the heat wave.

At first, there were just fluctuations, because the ACs went out and the lights flashed. We knew what this meant so we ran around the house turning off electronics. All we needed was a damaged appliance right now to put us back in the financial rut we had been in since my heart attack.

We turned everything off and waited, hoping it was a temporary thing.

It was not. The power did not go back on that night. The only sleep we got was a short time in the car with the AC on, trying to get our autistic and fussy toddler asleep. The power went on for a short time, but it wasn’t long before we were in for another scorching day without AC or even a fan. The worst part was we didn’t even have water to flush the toilet or cool off with a shower.

We get our drinking water delivered so at least we had that, but after another hot day, we were miserable. We even went to the store and bought a power station, which cost a blistering $400 so we could at least have a fan, not realizing that $400 only would get us 3 hours of fan at most.

The power went on for a few hours Saturday night, and we charged our devices and ran the AC, but still had no water except what they delivered by truck. The one container was so heavy we couldn’t lift it, so we stood in front of our house for a deliciously cool bucket bath.

The power finally came on in the middle of the night for good last night, but when we woke up, we’d had enough, and we took our power station back and bought a gas generator. It was more money than we had, but it is just ludicrous to live without at least a backup. If this happens again, at least we will have fans and lights.

But we still have no water, and if I hadn’t gone and filled up every jug we had at our in-law’s well, we wouldn’t have had water to poop or wash dishes (which were by this time, filling the sink).

On Friday and Saturday, it was well over 37 degrees Celsius, and we were miserable. My poor wife and child are laying in the room right now, Sunday, trying to rest, even though the toddler’s fever came back again today.

I decided that documenting this event was far more important than sleeping or I would be in the dark, cold room myself.

This is literally the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Before I didn’t want to leave the Philippines because going back to the USA meant higher prices, horrible politicians rules, and money we didn’t have, but with the cost-of-living skyrocketing in the Philippines, and the issues with the infrastructure, it is no longer worth living here, no matter how close to the beach it is.

I never had anything bad to say about the Philippines until recent events forced me to look beneath the exterior and see that our lives here are not as perfect as we would like to think.

I am done.

As soon as we are financially able, we are moving. I know how much it will cost to go, and I know how much it will cost to live in the USA, but I just cannot live like this in these conditions. If I am going to pay this much for food and utilities, I want to at least live where we have stable electricity, water, and internet.

As much as I don’t want to move my family away from my in-laws, who have been the best thing about the Philippines. I will. We have a huge supportive and loving family here, but I just cannot live where the basic necessities of life are not available.

So, it’s back to the USA, and I hope we don’t get sick because I don’t want to be one of those families living in a car under the overpass.

Be kind to us. All we need is one break and we will be fine.