The radio studio of the Julian Felipe Hall (JFH) is Christian De Ramos’ turf. As the laboratory technician, it’s his job to maintain the room mostly used by Communication and Journalism students for production classes.
Lights are on, mics are heard, and both students and faculty come in and leave the room regularly depending on their schedules. De Ramos is here to oversee the activities in the studio — a normal day in his work.
However, it wasn’t like this back on September 11. Four weeks ago before I interviewed De Ramos, what was supposed to be a normal day at work turned into a not-so-pleasant surprise.
He was there since early morning, doing his usual task of checking each piece of equipment when suddenly, the whole room went dark. Completely black out. Nothing could be seen and nothing was coming out of the air conditioners.
“Andito ako sa radio [studio] nun, nag-aayos ng gamit tapos biglang namatay na lang bigla yung ilaw. So nung namatay siyempre, itong ating studio ay walang bintana, kaya sobrang dilim,” he said.
(“I was here in the radio station at that time, checking all the equipment when the lights suddenly turned off. When that happened, it was so dark inside since our studio does not have any windows.”)
The radio studio is meant to be soundproofed and enclosed, so when there is absolutely no light and no air inside, it’s hot and suffocating.
When he exited the room, he found out that the whole building of the Julian Felipe Hall was totally out of power.
Later that day, classes in the JFH and the other affected building shifted to synchronous classes, forcing students and staff to adapt within the day. The outage lasted for two days before the university finally announced that the power was back in the buildings and onsite classes finally resumed.
When the authorities came in and inspected the building along with the technicians like Christian, they found out that the source of this power interruption came from a malfunctioning breaker in one of the rooms. That breaker has been existing since the JFH was built.
The Julian Felipe Hall might not be the oldest building on campus, but it stands to be one of the most important structures that houses all Liberal Arts courses and even students from other colleges in DLSU-D since around 1997.
But no matter how important and grandiose a building might be, time will always be an enemy when it comes to man-made structures.
“Dahil siguro sa kalumaan. O kaya kasi umiinit ang ating mga equipment, mga ilaw. Kaya yun ang nagko-cost. Sa sobrang tagal na kaya nagagato yung mga kuryente, mga insulation niyan bumibigay,” said De Ramos.
(“Probably because of antiquity. Or maybe because the equipment is getting warmer, like the lights. So this was the cost. The electricity has been cooking for so long, so the insulation is starting to get worn out.”)
For the 20 years that he has worked in DLSU-D, this was only the second time he witnessed a major power interruption in the building.
The last time was around three years ago, when the transformers in the substation of the eastern part of the campus exploded, cutting off power in all of the buildings belonging there. For three weeks that time, they were getting power only from the generator of the Ayuntamiento building.
As of now, the energy in the JFH is functioning normally again and the laboratories are up and running. Christian is back to his normal routine of opening the studio and letting the professors and students use it for their laboratory classes.
Even so, the concern for energy is still prevalent especially since the biggest function hall in the building—the Tangahalan Julian Felipe—is still not functional.
An alternative source of energy is overdue for a structure like JFH. And since the university administration is currently pushing the Sustainable Development Goals, sustainable energy must be put into the surface as well.
Interestingly, De Ramos told me that there are actually solar panels installed on the 6th floor roof of the building that operated for only a year or two in the past. At the moment, however, it is currently not functioning.
When asked about the state of the solar panels now, De Ramos replied, “Hindi ko alam bakit napatigil yun eh. Kasi nakita ko dun sa electrical room, wala yung mga device ng pang-solar. Mga battery, saka yung mga control niyan. Ewan ko kung saan nila nagamit. Pero yung mga solar [panel] nandoon.”
(“I don’t know why it stopped working. Because when I checked the electrical room, the devices for the solar power weren’t there anymore. Like the batteries and controls for it. I’m not sure where they’re using it now. But the solar panels are still there.”)
All the other buildings in the campus also remain to depend on the power from substations. But some light posts and other electrical objects such as the lights in the Grandstand are powered by solar energy.
Maybe it’s finally time to apply it directly to the power supply of the JFH, too.
The university always boasts itself as one of the greenest universities in the country. Based on the Universitas Indonesia Greenmetric Ranking, DLSU-D is the most sustainable campus in the Philippines.
However, what happened in the JFH and its current state begs the question: Is it really sustainable enough?
