BAGUIO CITY – The member-consumers of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) confirmed an earlier resolution of the Board of Directors providing a P5,000 burial assistance for every deceased member of the rural electric cooperative.
The members who attended the three general assemblies in Buguias, Itogon, and Baguio City last December 3, 10 and 17, respectively, confirmed the new policy adopted by the Board of Directors to grant the burial assistance to the deceased member-consumers in a one-time availment.
However, the burial assistance will only be extended to natural persons and it will not apply to juridical persons such as barangay halls, day care centers, public buildings among others.
The approved policy will still be forwarded to the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for approval as the regulating agency of rural electric cooperatives.
Leonardo Belingon, BENECO consumer welfare officer, said the new policy was emulated by BENECO from the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) which had been implementing the grant of P5,000 burial assistance for its deceased members.
“We are confident that the grant of burial assistance to deceased members will be approved by NEA because it approved the earlier policy adopted by INEC,” Belingon stressed.
The BENECO official pointed out the policy will be implemented as soon as the NEA shall have stamped its approval on the new policy that was confirmed by the members during the recently conducted general assemblies.
He added members of the different multi-sectoral electrification advisory committees (MSEACs) will continue conducting benchmarking activities in the different electric cooperatives in various parts of the country to learn from their best practices which could be emulated and implemented by BENECO within its franchise area.
It was learned that the BENECO Board of Directors appropriated an initial budget for the implementation of this burial assistance as it will be implemented once the NEA shall have confirmed the policy.
To date, BENECO has a total membership of 175,000 member-consumers in Baguio City and Benguet with 85 percent of the members based in the 128 barangays of the city.
BENECO is one of the multi-awarded rural electric cooperative having excelled in its collection efficiency, implementation of various sitio energization programs benefitting non-viable communities in Benguet, extending assistance in calamity-stricken areas outside its franchise area, implementation of various corporate social responsibility projects, upgrading of its systems to provide reliable power to consumers among other relevant programs beneficial for the general welfare of its consumers in the Baguio and Benguet areas.
By HENT
