One could say that Albert Bryan, R.R. Landon, Martin Levering and A.A. Addenbrook literally lit up Cebu in 1905 when they pooled their money and brains together that February to found then Bryan and Landon Electric.

They began with some P250, 000 and built a powerhouse beside the former Warwick Barracks (now Carbon) at the Ermita Beach District. With only one generator connected to a single-cylinder Corliss Steam Engine with only 350 horsepower, they started servicing a very limited clientele within the Municipio de Cebu.

Hijos de F. Escaño, Inc. of Malitbog, Leyte headed by the late Dr. Mamerto Escaño bought R.R. Landon’s controlling interest in the power company and took over operations. It was then that the power company was renamed Visayan Electric Company, S.A.

In 1928, the then American governor general Henry Stimson signed an act extending the power company’s franchise to include Mandaue, Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, Talisay, Minglanilla, San Fernando and Naga.

With the increasing demand for electricity in Cebu, the power company kept up and by 1941 it could produce 20 times more power than during its initial operation.

Retreating American forces during the Japanese Occupation blew up VECO’s crucial generating units and the end of the war damaged almost all of the company’s transmission and distribution facilities.

By: Ybarra