TRO sought to stop Albay power co-op privatization

LEGAZPI CITY—Two electricity consumers in Albay filed on Friday a petition asking the Regional Trial Court here to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent the interim  board of the Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco) from implementing the privatization of the debt-ridden electric cooperative.

Lawyer Bartolome Rayco and Darlan Barcelon petitioned the court to prohibit through a TRO the Aleco interim board headed by Legazpi Bishop Joel Z. Baylon and eight other members from pursuing the plan to allow a private firm to operate Aleco through the “private sector participation” (PSP) scheme.

The petitioners also asked for a writ of prohibition by restraining the members of the interim board to make decisions for Aleco because they were not elected by the members of the cooperative, as provided by its by-laws.

Rayco said the Aleco board erred in pushing for the PSP proposal even if it was rejected by majority of the member-

consumers at the special general assembly on Nov. 30 last year.

Option

Under the PSP option, Aleco shall enter into a contract with a private company that will manage Aleco for the next 25 years.

Rayco said the privatization scheme would violate the franchise of Aleco as an electric cooperative. Moreover, the interim board, by proceeding with the PSP, would be committing a grave abuse of discretion, he said.

The PSP option of a profit-sharing scheme would also violate the cooperative’s by-laws, which state that it would operate as a nonprofit public utility, he added.

Aleco, now supervised by the National Electrification Authority (NEA), held a per-bid conference last week to look into the proposals of private corporations, among them Aboitiz Power, interested to invest and buy out the cooperative despite its close to P4-billion debts to various power producers.

The NEA, in its bid to bail out the financially sick Aleco, decided to push for the PSP.

Other schemes

Bishop Joel Baylon, who heads the interim board, explained that they tried to adopt other schemes, such as the “co-op to co-op” partnership program, to bail out the cooperative but these failed to attract investors until they considered the PSP.

According to Baylon, the NEA’s intervention into the affairs of the electric cooperative is designed  to fast-track the process of privatization after the interim board of directors yielded to the pressure of the NEA.

“The PSP parameters will pave the way for the wholesale [sale] of Aleco. Member-consumers will lose control over Aleco and will cause the electric power rate to soar high,” Baylon opined.