MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Sergio Osmeña III on Thursday warned of a massive power shortage in the country that will lead to frequent brownouts beginning next year.

Osmeña, chairman of the Senate energy committee, explained that this is mainly because of a rising demand for power, fueled by the faster than expected growth of the economy.

"We're going to have a tight supply starting next year," he told reporters. "We have to get more power plants up and running."

At present, the country has 14,000 megawatts of "dependable capacity," the senator said.

Osmeña believes the power shortage is unavoidable because the country is unprepared and has not enough power reserves to meet a rising demand.

He predicted that the shortage could last until 2017-but that is if government starts addressing the problem now, such as by building new power stations.

If the impending shortage is not addressed, "the rest of the world will be really losing confidence in our economy," Osmeña said.