Pantabangan power cut again as people cry fund mismanagement

CABANATUAN CITY—In a pained voice, Gerardo Sator of Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, asked: “Why is this scourge happening to us?”

His reaction came as Pantabangan suffered its second blackout in three weeks on Thursday when the First Gen Hydro Power Corp. (FGHPC), which supplies electricity to the Pantabangan Municipal Electric Services (Pames), cut off its electric supply to the town after Pames failed to settle its current bills.

Sator, who is spokesperson of the town’s La Solidaridad movement, an advocacy group, also lamented that the move to seek legal relief from the mismanagement, not only of Pames but also of their town, remained unheeded.

He said that they received word on Feb. 27 that FGHPC had given Pames five working days to pay its bill that amounted to P8,762,405.58.

“We will suffer again, like a penance during the Holy Week. But we have nothing to do for the grave sins obtaining in our town,” he said

Earlier, Dennis Gonzalez, FGHPC vice president for business, said that for the July 2012 to December 2012 bills alone, Pames had not paid its obligation.

Its monthly bill averages P1.7 million, he said.

On Feb. 11, electric supply was cut off because of the unpaid bills but after some negotiations, FGHPC restored the supply two days later.

The Feb. 11 cutoff happened six months after the town suffered a 10-day power disconnection due to debts owed by Pames to the electricity supplier amounting to P80 million.

After negotiations arranged by the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, Pames had a total outstanding debt of P52,264,222.75.

Sator said his group has filed cases against Pantabangan Mayor Romeo Borja Sr. in the Ombudsman for alleged misuse of funds but nothing has happened to the cases.

“We plan to go to the Ombudsman and hold a ‘ceremonial withdrawal’ of the cases,” he said, adding that the move would dramatize their need to be freed from their suffering. With a report from Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon