LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The provincial board requested the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) to investigate whether or not the actions of the controversial National Electrification Administration–Board of Administrators (NEA-BOA) committed grave misconduct or acts of corruption for violating NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035 and NEA Memorandum No. 2018-004 that led to the turmoil of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO).
Under Resolution No. 2021-1397, local legislators also prayed for the immediate imposition of the appropriate penalties against the earing members of the NEA-BOA for their obvious violation of their rules and regulations governing the appointment of the general manager of electric cooperatives, especially in the case of BENECO where it insisted the appointment of an unqualified and not recommended appointee.
The board pointed out that what happened to BENECO where there were 2 general managers that were appointed, one named by the Board of Directors and one being insisted by the (NEA-BOA) will not also happen to other electric cooperatives to ensure stability of their operations unlike what is currently being experienced by one of the country’s top performing electric cooperatives.
Further, the board asserted that it regards the PACC at the topmost confidence in fighting corruption and abuses in the government and other government-owned and controlled corporations that is why it is seeking its support to curb the alleged corruption and abuses being committed by the NEA-BOA, especially in insisting the appointment of an unqualified and not recommended appointee for the position of general manager.
On April 21, 2020, the BENECO Board of Directors unanimously approved Resolution No. 2020-090 that appointed Engr. Melchor S. Licoben, Assistant General Manager, as the full pledged General Manager of the electric cooperative vice the late Gerardo P. Verzosa who retired from the service effective May 1, 2020.
However, the NEA-BOA dipped its fingers in the affairs of the electric cooperative by repeatedly insisting the appointment of an unqualified and not recommended applicant to the position of general manager that caused chaos in the electric cooperative to date.
The board pointed out that member-consumer-owners (MCOs), including provincial and municipal officials of Benguet, are now wondering on the actions of the NEA-BOA that caused the prevailing turmoil in BENECO which is one of the country’s top performing electric cooperative.
The board argued that the NEA-BOA committed abuses and misconduct when it accepted the application of lawyer Ana Marie Rafael as general manager when the said position was already filled up thereby grossly violating the revised policies on the selection, hiring, termination or suspension for general managers of electric cooperatives.
According to the resolution, Rafael did not possess the qualifications of an applicant for the said position, thus, she was supposed to have been disqualified from the start aside from the fact that she was not recommended for appointment to the said position pursuant to the remarks of those that conducted the examinations on the applicants.
The board emphasized that the NEA-BOA grossly violated its rules when it did not submit to the BENECO Board of Directors the list of qualified applicants for the position of general manager as it only submitted the applicant with a higher rating which is not supposed to be the case in the first place.
The board reiterated that the NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035 and NEA Memorandum No. 2018-004 have been approved by the NEA-BOA as policies and guidelines for all electric cooperatives and for good governance and that the said policies cannot be supplanted by powers and prerogatives of the NEA.
Before the present leadership impasse, BENECO has been one of the country’s top performing electric cooperatives with a rating of Class AAA and that the same remains to date which negates the claim of the NEA-BOA that the cooperative had been remised in the discharge of its duties and responsibilities to the MCOs.
Earlier, the NEA-BOA also defied House Resolution No. 239 that called for a status quo in BENECO and for the said board to comply with the prevailing rules and regulations governing the appointment of general managers of electric cooperatives.
