NORMALCY Employees of Benguet Electric Cooperative in Baguio City proceed with their normal work schedule on Wednesday despite major changes in the utility’s management, as ordered by the National Electrification Administration. —EV ESPIRITU
BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — To finally end its yearlong standoff with Benguet’s power utility, the National Electrification Administration (NEA) has cleaned the slate by removing all officers of Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco), including a former Malacañang official whose assumption as general manager sparked the feud.
NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda on Wednesday enforced a decision by his agency’s board of administrators (BOA) that revoked the Sept. 1, 2021, appointment of former Communications Assistant Secretary Ana Maria Paz Rafael.
At a news conference, Almeda said Beneco’s “AAA’’ ranking as a top-performing electric cooperative was tarnished, dropping to a category “C” during Rafael’s tenure. Beneco serves Baguio City and 13 Benguet towns.
Rafael’s appointment sparked several lawsuits that questioned her eligibility, and she was quickly rejected by Beneco employees and members-consumers-owners (MCOs), who supported the career employee she was supposed to replace, engineer Melchor Licoben.
In a statement on Wednesday, Rafael said she was unable to function as a manager because Licoben refused to leave his post as general manager and described the NEA’s basis for removing her as “contrived.”
Rafael’s appointment was revoked through NEA-BOA Resolution No. 2023-02 because of her poor performance evaluation.
The NEA resolution said Rafael “evidently failed” to meet the key performance standards.
“Beneco, since her (Rafael’s) assumption [as general manager], has regressed to category ‘[C],’ coming from Triple ‘A’ category in the 2019 NEA’s [electric cooperatives’] overall performance assessment,” it said.
Suspension
Almeda also suspended Licoben for 45 days for “defying the regulator” and will be restored to his original position as assistant manager.
All of Beneco’s board of directors were replaced by an interim board, Almeda said.
Majority of the previous 11-member Beneco board, led by president Esteban Somngi, had refused to heed the NEA board’s appointment of Rafael, insisting that her selection was improperly done.
Almeda said the entire board of directors was terminated due to various “irregularities” dating back to 2018, like the use of a P160-million bank loan to jumpstart a new funding source for all electric cooperatives called the Rural Electrification and Financing Corp.
Somngi said he would not be allowed to seek reelection, alongside board members Rocky Aliping, Enrique Moresto, Jonathan Obar, Robert Valentin, Josephine Tukling, Luke Gomeyac, Peter Busaing, Jeffred Acop, Mike Maspil and James Aclopen.
Almeda said he would serve as Beneco’s “project supervisor” for the next six months to steer the utility back to “normalcy,” and to give cooperative members the chance to elect a new board and a new manager.
The NEA will screen new applicants for Beneco manager “properly,” using a 2017 set of rules, said Vic Alvaro, the NEA department manager for legal services.
A five-member team composed of businessman Steve Cating, teacher Elma Donaal, pastor Rodolfo de Guia, lawyer George Dumawing, and an agriculture sector representative, Joaquin Geronimo Depalog Jr., will serve as interim directors, while Beneco systems administrator Ramel Rifani has been designated as acting Beneco manager.
“My first order of business is to reinstate Beneco’s access to its operating funds,” Almeda said.Beneco’s accounts were frozen by the utility’s banks after the previous NEA administration circulated a memorandum designating Rafael as Beneco’s new manager.
The management was forced to default on some of its obligations as a result of the banks’ actions, and had been operating using monthly payments made by its customers.
Full audit
Almeda said the NEA had formed audit teams for a full accounting of Beneco’s finances, including funds under Rafael’s custody.
Beneco sued some banks, such as Philippine National Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines, for allegedly allowing individuals who were not members of the cooperative to withdraw millions of pesos from its accounts.
Jefferd Monang, president of the Beneco Employees Labor Union, said the utility’s rank-and-file was “blindsided” by the NEA’s new ruling and expressed their support for Licoben when they joined a caucus with Almeda on Wednesday.
The NEA-Beneco feud drew the national spotlight on Oct. 18, 2021, when the NEA board directed policemen to seize the utility’s headquarters in Baguio City in the wee hours.