BACOLOD CITY, Philippines -- This city’s government and the local electric cooperative are locked in conflict over more than P8 million in unpaid power bills.

The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) disconnected power to Bacolod City Hall, the new government center, the Libertad Market and other government offices Thursday.

In retaliation, the city government padlocked Ceneco’s administrative building after revoking the power distributor’s mayor's permit for failure to pay franchise taxes and real estate property taxes to the city.

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia, in a press conference Friday, then called on residents to immediately stop paying their Ceneco bills since its mayor's permit had been cancelled.

The city failed to pay its electric bills despite the billing notice sent it last December 19and another reminder a few days ago, in violation of a compromise agreement that bound the local government to update its payments, Ceneco president Vicente Sabornay said.

Sabornay said if Ceneco goes bankrupt for subsidizing the city’s unpaid bills of P3 million a month, the National Power Corp. (Napocor) would cut the power firm off, depriving everyone within its franchise area of electricity.

City legal officer Allan Zamora said the power disconnection could be a blessing in disguise because the city government could now insist on being supplied power directly by Napocor.

Zamora said Ceneco did not serve the city any notice of disconnection but only sent a bill that did not indicate they had only 48 hours to pay up before being cut off.

He said an official had assured Sabornay the city would pay its electricity bills Friday, yet Ceneco went ahead with the disconnection.

Leonardia called Ceneco’s move an "enemy action" against the people of Bacolod.

"Their cutting off of electricity was a form of economic sabotage and was done [in] bad faith because there had been several talks between representatives of Ceneco and the city to find a solution," he said.

Leonardia said this was probably the worst time for Ceneco to implement the disconnection because the payment of taxes was gaining momentum and an estimated P2 million in collections was not realized Thursday as a result of the power cut.

The mayor said he suspects Ceneco was "driven by other motives" or by a "political agenda" to derail his administration.

Leonardia said they were doing everything to comply with the compromise and presented to the media at Friday’s press conference at the government center three checks for P8.8 million that the city intends to pay to Ceneco.

He said there was good faith on the part of the city to comply with the agreement but that a long holiday caused a delay.

"If they threaten to implement a blackout in the whole city, then they are not for public service, so we will ask the National Electrification Authority to cancel their franchise. They don't deserve to be here if that is their attitude," Leonardia said.