Lanao residents mull asking OIC for help in power woes

DAVAO CITY – Residents of 18 Lanao del Sur towns still without electricity despite a court order are so desperate they are thinking of bringing the matter to the attention of the Organization of Islamic Conference.

Sultan Liwalug B. Dimapunung, president of the Alliance of Coalitions Against People’s Poverty (Arcapp), said in a statement that the residents were at a loss as to whom to approach so power would be restored to their municipalities.

Bayan Balt, legal counsel to the 18 towns, said he had sought the help of the Energy Regulatory Commission, Malacañang and had even suits for electricity service to be restored but to no avail.

Dimapunung said his alliance hoped the OIC, which used to be called the Organization of the Islamic Conference and was based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, OIC could help alleviate their sufferings.

The Lanao del Sur Electric Coop. (Lasureco) cut power to 32 Lanao del Sur towns in May 2013, claiming consumers there had been remiss in their payments and that this had contributed the ballooning of the power utility’s debt to its power suppliers and other service providers to P3.2 billion.

Governor Mamintal Adiong said the debt has since swollen to more than P8 billion.

But the mayors of 27 of the affected towns sued the cooperative, charging the non-remittance of monthly payments by customers and other anomalies allegedly committed by Lasureco officials were to blame for the cooperative’s dire straits.

They also faulted the electric cooperative for installing just one meter in each town, which they said was irregular, and sued Lasureco officials led by manager Ashary Maongco in the Office of the Ombudsman and the courts.

Last June 16, the local court of Marawi City, which heard one of the cases against the electric cooperative, ruled in favor of the mayors and ordered Lasureco to restore electricity service to those towns.

Balt said, however, that only nine of the towns have been re-energized.

“And to think that we have complied with every requirement,” he said.

Dimapunung told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by text message on Friday that the the affected residents felt so helpless now that they want the OIC to intervene.

“We are observing Ramadan and you can deduce how difficult it is for us to continue under the situation especially during night time when Muslims perform the taraweh (nightly community prayers),” he said.

Balt said he was not sure if the OIC would indeed help but Arcapp’s move only showed how desperate the people of the 18 towns were for power.

“They are hoping the OIC could make a difference after their failure to obtain relief from Philippine government authorities,” Balt said.

He said the affected residents could not understand why the authorities were so deaf and blind to their plight when even an hour-long power outage in Metro Manila, for example, would be more than enough to cause a furor.

“Every time electricity in major urban centers goes off, Philippine government authorities quickly come to the rescue of consumers. It is the contrary in the case of the 18 towns of Lanao del Sur,” Balt said.

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