NEA fires execs of Benguet power coop as audit starts

A member of Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) asks motorists to honk in solidarity with the protest action. Beneco employees and consumers learned that lawyer Ana Maria Paz Rafael, a former assistant secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, would take her oath as new general manager of the power utility. KIMBERLIE QUITASOL/FILE PHOTO

BAGUIO CITY — The head of the National Electrification Administration on Wednesday took over the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco), removing the former Palace official, whom the regulator appointed as the cooperative’s general manager, and resolving a year-long leadership standoff.

NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda will act as project supervisor of the utility serving Baguio City and Benguet province.

He has appointed its systems administrator as interim manager after removing former Communications Assistant Secretary Ana Maria Paz Rafael, the NEA Board of Administrators’ choice, and suspending Melchor Licoben, the manager backed by the cooperative.

NEA also fired the whole Beneco Board for alleged various management offenses and replaced it with five sectoral representatives, who will serve as the board until an election is called.

When asked, Almeda said the first order of business was to reinstate access to the utility’s funds that were frozen due to the leadership conflict.

Almeda said Beneco, a former top-tier power distributor, had been downgraded from Class AAA to Class B.

The Beneco-NEA feud drew public scrutiny when the NEA board directed armed police to take over the facility in 2021, only for cooperative members and employees to rally and take back the Beneco headquarters. INQ

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