IN THE KNOW: Panay Electric Co. Inc.

Panay Electric Co. Inc. (Peco) was granted a franchise to distribute power in Iloilo City by Republic Act No. 2983. It started operating in 1923.

Among its incorporators were former Sen. Jose Ma. Arroyo, a relative of former first gentleman Mike Arroyo, Don Esteban de la Rama, Mariano Jalbuena, Emiliano Lizares, Jose Lopez-Vito, Modesto Ledesma, Marcos Alfaras, Jose Tiongco, Yap Seng, Eulogio Hernandez, Jose L. Jalbuena, Jose G. Paramos and G.M. Saul.

In 1927, Candelaria Cacho acquired Peco after investors sold to her more than 99 percent of its capital stock.

Peco archives showed the book value of its assets in December 1926 at P863,807 and a debt of P635,000 to Philippine Engineering Co. How much the Cachos paid for the shares was not indicated although, normally, a company was worth more than its book value.

Candelaria was two months pregnant with twins (one died later at childbirth) when her husband, Francisco, 56, a pharmacist and native of Tiedra, a town west of Valladolid, Spain, was killed on May 9, 1900.

Francisco was on a business trip to Capiz province where he owned an ice plant. His death certificate said he died from bolo wounds inflicted by an amok.

The tragedy did not deter the widow’s spirit. To protect her children’s future, she plunged into several businesses, which succeeded through sheer hard work.

She died of bulbar palsy at 68, but left her children not only Peco but also one of the oldest publishing companies in the Philippines which became Cacho Hermanos Inc. and later sold to National Bookstore. Her children and, later, her grandchildren took over the management of Peco. —Inquirer Visayas

Source: Peco Archives