27 mayors sue power execs for plunder of co-op funds

DAVAO CITY—Twenty-seven Lanao del Sur mayors sued the general manager of Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative (Lasureco) and two officials of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for plunder and other irregularities at the Office of the Ombudsman, a lawyer for the mayors said on Thursday.

Lawyer Bayan Balt told reporters the case was filed against Lasureco general manager Ashary Maongco, NEA administrator Edita S. Bueno and auditor Digno Tumbokon.

He said the mayors accused the three officials of involvement in questionable disbursements of P190 million in barangay electrification funds, P25 million in Pantawid Kuryente funds and P603 million in payments collected from consumers in 2007-2012 but were not remitted to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

Balt said the mayors also questioned why Lasureco accumulated a total of P6.2 billion in debt to PSALM as of Jan. 14.

In their complaint, the mayors also accused Maongco and NEA of appointing directors to the Lasureco board instead of consumers voting for them.

“Power consumers in Lanao del Sur were never given the chance to elect their representatives to the Lasureco board of directors in contrast to practices in other power cooperatives,” Balt said.

Efforts to get comments and reactions from the officials sued had repeatedly failed. Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao