Lipa ordered to pay debt to power co-op

LIPA CITY—The Regional Trial Court here has ordered the city government to pay some P20 million in unpaid power consumption that it owed to the Batangas II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Batalec II).

The decision, promulgated on Dec. 19 by Lipa RTC Branch 12 Judge Danilo Sandoval, gave the city government headed by Mayor Meynard Sabili until Valentine’s Day next year to settle all its debt to Batelec II or else power supply to all city-owned properties, including the City Hall, would be disconnected.

Sandoval set the deadline based on the promise made before the court by the city administrator and the city legal officer that the arrears, accumulated over two years, would be paid by then.

A copy of the court’s decision was handed to reporters on Dec. 24 by Marilyn Caguimbal, general manager of Batelec II.

The City Hall of Lipa has accumulated P10.5 million in unpaid electric bills from March 2010 to December 2010 and P9.5 million from July to November 2011 under the administration of Sabili, according to the latest summary of accounts handed to the Inquirer by Batelec II.

Hope

Caguimbal said the payment would have to include electric bills for December 2011 to February 2012, based on Sandoval’s ruling.

“We hope that the Lipa City government pays at least P20 million, including its bills for December to February because we also need to pay our suppliers,” said Ruperto Manalo, president of Batelec II.

“If we allow the back accounts of Lipa City government to increase, the entire services of Batelec II to our member/consumers will be totally affected,” he said.

Lipa has the highest unpaid electricity bills to Batelec II among other local government units in eastern Batangas, according to Caguimbal.

Right now, he said they were just waiting from Sabili for the so-called “restructuring proposal,” or the payment scheme, to settle the unpaid accounts.

The city government has earlier hit back at the electric cooperative by issuing on Dec. 12 a closure order on the ground that Batelec II had no mayor’s permit to operate and that it was allegedly illegal collection of fees/members contribution, in violation of the Cooperative Code.

Caguimbal said the grounds cited in the closure order were “all lies,” because Batelec II has paid P40 million for local franchise tax and real property tax since 2007 to 2011.

Manalo said there was no illegal collection of fees as all of the tariffs Batelec has implemented were approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission, the body that regulates the operations of electric firms.

Lawyer Birgilio Macasaet Jr., the mayor’s legal consultant, assured the city would abide by the court’s order to pay all its electric bills by February 2012.