The Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) will hold the regular district elections for the members of the Board of Directors in two batches considering the stringent preparations that will be done for the whole process in the electric cooperative’s eleven districts within its franchise area in Baguio and Benguet.
BENECO community relations officer Christopher Gonzales said that the elections for the members of the board in the six districts will be held sometime in April while the elections for the remaining five districts will be held in September to allow the electric cooperative to prepare for the resources and other logistics that will be required for the smooth conduct of the district elections.
He disclosed that the districts that will hold the elections in April will be Districts 2, 3 and 4 in Baguio and Districts 7 (La Trinidad), 8 (Atok, Tublay, Kapangan and Kibugan) and 10 (Itogon, Bokod and Kabayan) in Benguet.
Further, Districts 1, 5 and 6 in Baguio and Districts 9 (Tuba and Sablan) and 11 (Bakun, Buguias and Mankayanb) will be holding the elections for their respective directors who will become members of the BENECO board in September.
However, Gonzales claimed that BENECO management is still in the process of finalizing the schedule and other pertinent details of the upcoming district elections in April that is why member-consumer-owners (MCOs) will have to wait for further advisories that will be made relative to the said process.
Earlier, various local governments in Baguio and Benguet and MCOs had been prodding the National Electrification Administration (NEA) and BENECO to immediately schedule the elections for the members of the board of Directors following the confirmation made by the NEA Board of Administrators to the appointment of Engr. Melchor S. Kicoben as the full-pledge general manager of one of the country’s top performing electric cooperatives.
According to him, the qualification of those who will be aspiring to be voted as members of the BENECO Board of Directors are also stringent to ensure that those who will be elected to the said positions will be fully aware and knowledgeable on the intricacies of the country’s power industry and for them to be able to contribute in the sustained efforts to advance the state of the electric cooperative to a higher level.
On January 12, 2023, NEA installed the interim members of the BENECO board following the dismissal of the earlier members who were administratively charged for various offenses to allow BENECO’s smooth operations while transitioning to the new set of members of the board who will be elected by the consumers in April and September. The members of the interim board will occupy their positions until such time that the consumers shall have elected their respective district representatives who will represent them in the electric cooperative’s policy making body.
Gonzales assured the consumers that details of the upcoming district elections will be widely disseminated once it will be finalized to guide them in their future decisions on who will be aspiring for the said positions and who are deserving to be voted to the vacated posts. By Dexter A. See
