CA raps NEA for ‘abuse of discretion’ in Benguet utility leadership row

REMEMBERING Employees of Benguet Electric Cooperative stage a peace march on Oct. 20, 2023, to commemorate the armed takeover of their Baguio building on Oct. 18, 2021, after the utility’s officials and workforce rejected the designation by the National Electrification Administration (NEA) of a former Malacañang official as their manager. The employees took back their building two days later. A recent Court of Appeals ruling concludes that the NEA exceeded its authority in 2021. —VINCENT CABREZA

BAGUIO CITY – The Court of Appeals (CA) has ruled that the National Electrification Administration’s Board of Administrators (NEA BOA) should not have tampered with the leadership of the electric utility in Benguet province and this city and abused its authority by doing so.

The rebuke was made in a July 9 decision of the CA’s Fifth Division, which nullified the NEA resolutions and directives that led to the appointment of lawyer Ana Maria Rafael, the former assistant secretary of Malacañang’s communications office under the Duterte administration, as manager of Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) despite questions on her eligibility, which escalated into widespread protests involving the utility’s employees and member-consumers.

“[The] NEA BOA committed grave abuse of discretion … [and] exceeded its authority by appointing Rafael, a power that should have been exercised by the Beneco BOD (board of directors) itself. Corollary, the appointment of Rafael by the NEA BOA is null and void,” the CA said in a ruling penned by Associate Justice Jaime Fortunato Caringal.

READ: NEA ends leadership row at Benguet power co-op

The CA ruling addressed the challenges to the designation of Rafael filed by then Beneco manager Melchor Licoben and by the seven board members of the utility at that time, led by lawyer Esteban Somngi, after the NEA insisted on its authority to appoint the former Malacañang official and even stormed the Beneco office in a failed attempt to install her in office.

Licoben had joined Beneco’s BOD, its employees and the cooperative’s member-consumers in resisting Rafael’s designation, which led to a three-year leadership standoff.

The row drew national attention on Oct. 18, 2021, when NEA officials ordered armed policemen to take over Beneco’s main building in Baguio before dawn purportedly to allow Rafael to take over. But Beneco’s employees and consumers, resorting to a “people’s power” response, marched and took back control of the Beneco building on Oct. 20.

Appointing power

But before the CA ruling was issued, the standoff ended in January last year when NEA Administrator Antonio Almeda, in a bid to end the dispute, fired all of Beneco’s feuding officials, including the members of the Beneco BOD and Rafael herself for “poor performance.”

The new selection process for Beneco manager ordered by Almeda resulted to the reappointment of Licoben in November last year. This month, Beneco members elected their new BOD.

The CA took note that Licoben was reappointed as Beneco’s manager in November 2023 and that the parties concerned in the petition had failed to notify the court of that development.

However, it stressed, “Our better judgment calls us not to dismiss [the petitions] on the ground of mootness as the courts are allowed to decide a question that is otherwise moot if it is capable of repetition, yet evading review.”

The CA said it has to address the matter because “questions as to whether NEA or Beneco’s board has the power to appoint their manager will arise each time the NEA BOA directly appoints an applicant to the position, yet evade review, owing to the simple expedient that the NEA BOA may later on recall the appointed official.”

The court also addressed the NEA’s 90-day suspension of Somngi and directors Jeffred Acop, Mike Maspil, Peter Busaing, Jonathan Obar, Josephine Tuling and Robert Valentin for issuing the resolution that rejected Rafael’s Sept. 1, 2021, appointment.

“Considering that the appointment of Rafael is tainted with grave abuse of discretion, [the board members] could not have committed a violation by allegedly disregarding the NEA rules when they rejected her appointment. As such, the assailed order which preventively suspended the petitioners was likewise issued with grave abuse of discretion,” the CA said.

‘Rubber stamp’

“To borrow the petitioner’s words, the NEA BOA ‘virtually treat[ed] the Beneco BOD as its rubber stamp in favor of Rafael.’ What is worse is that when the Beneco BOD did not follow as instructed, the NEA BOA issued the assailed resolution and directly appointed Rafael as Beneco’s [general manager],” it said.

Licoben had earlier complained that the NEA nominated and appointed Rafael as general manager although she had no electrical or mechanical engineering degree, nor a mandated five-year supervisory experience running an electric cooperative as required by law.

He continued running Beneco’s day-to-day operations during the feud, although the Beneco workforce lost access to the utility’s bank accounts, which were frozen at the behest of the NEA.

Rafael opened her own Beneco office but could not enter the premises of all Beneco facilities until her termination last year.

Beneco has sued its banks for alleged unauthorized withdrawals from it accounts that have not been returned or properly accounted for as of Friday. INQ