LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The family of the late Gerardo P. Verzosa, retired general manager of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO), is not satisfied over the personal apology conveyed by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on the earlier malicious, insensitive, irresponsible and illogical remarks he uttered against a defenseless person during a live streamed interview.
Kalinga Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang, in a letter to Secretary Cusi, stated that while their family welcomed Cusi’s gesture of extending a personal apology and exerting efforts to take responsibility for his judgmental remarks, his letter failed to redeem Mr. Verzosa from the bad light he had casted him in.
After reviewing Secretary Cusi’s interview with Karen Davila in Headstart and reviewing his letter multiple times, Mangaoang claimed that their family cannot help but conclude that the image of my brother-in-law remains tarnished by his reckless statement that the cause of his passing away is the current problems of BENECO aggravated by the prevailing leadership impasse.
Based on Cusi’s remarks during the said interview, he related Mr. Verzosa’s death to the current problems being encountered by BENECO.
The lawmaker pointed out that the manner by which Secretary Cusi made his remarks strongly implies that Mr. Verzosa’s passing had something to do with the installation of a new general manager and was caused by troubles in the electric cooperative.
“If it was not clear in the previous letter I sent, we wish to stress that the untimely death of my brother-in-law has no relation with the current predicament BENECO is facing. To reiterate, Mr. Verzosa’s retirement from BENECO was effective May 1, 2020. He passed away on September 16, 2020. Engr. Melchor S. Licoben assumed the position of general manager after Mr. Verzosa’s retirement, contrary to your speculation that his installation was due to Mr. Verzosa’s death,” Mangaoang stressed.
With regards Cusi’s speculation that BENECO is not being ran properly then, as he implied, Mangaoang disclosed that Mr. Verzosa was cleared by the regulating agencies, as well as the courts of his liabilities, therefore, he was rewarded his full retirement benefits on August 7, 2020.
“We only wish for my brother-in-law to rest with dignity and be remembered for the exemplary service he showed during his time as general manager of BENECO, as supported by the sentiments expressed by members of the local government units and member-consumer-owners. It is worthy to emphasize that the sincerity of a person in extending his apologies could be in the way he delivers his message of apology and the means used to convey the same. We do not see any reason why you would try to evade issuing your public apology through the same means that you used to malign our beloved family member,” Mangaoang exclaimed.
According to him, Secretary Cusi’s remarks were done publicly can be easily accessed and can be effortlessly be taken out of context, thus, if he is sincere in taking responsibility for his remarks as stated in his letter, the family insisted that the same public form with Karen Davila be used for his apology and clarification in associating Mr. Verzosa’s demise with BENECO’s plight.
Mangaoang asserted that their family is looking forward to Secretary Cusi heeding their demand and for him to bear in mind that the same will be the last time their family will be writing to him on this sensitive matter.
He stipulated that the future steps that will be undertaken by their family will depend on the steps that Secretary Cusi will take in issuing the much-awaited public apology.
In his letter to Congressman Mangaoang, Secretary Cusi stated his regrets in issuing statements that hurt the feelings of the Verzosa family after he related the untimely demise of the general manager to the troubles being encountered by BENECO and the controversy surrounding the appointment of the general manager which is now the cause of the present leadership crisis in the electric cooperative.
He revealed that he will take full responsibility for the statements that he issued and that he personally apologized to the family for what he had done.
The Kalinga lawmaker emphasized that Secretary Cusi’s apology letter virtually evaded the supposed very purpose of the apology, thus, the family is not satisfied and that they want more to be exerted by the member of the President’s Cabinet for them to be satisfied over his sincere apology if there is any that will be done by him in the future. By HENT
