Mindoro court stops election of power cooperative

CITY OF CALAPAN—The legal battle over which government entity has authority over the Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Ormeco) continued after a regional trial court here stopped the National Electrification Administration (NEA) from electing a board of directors for district 2 of the cooperative.

Regional Trial Court Branch 40 Judge Tomas Leynes, in a decision dated Aug. 19, ruled that Ormeco should now be placed under the Cooperatives Development Authority (CDA), and directed the Ormeco under the NEA to stop “from interfering with the affairs and actions of the transition committee and interim board of directors of [CDA-registered] Ormeco.”

The Ormeco legal dispute has been raging in the province between member-consumers belonging to the Movement for Consumer Ownership of Ormeco (MCOO), who want Ormeco converted into a “genuine cooperative” under CDA, and a  group of  officials who want to keep Ormeco under NEA.

MCOO, in a primer, said that with Ormeco under CDA, member-consumers would have a share in the capital and its interest; would be exempted from taxes,  which would lower the price of electricity; and would allow greater transparency on the coop’s operations.

Ormeco under NEA, on the other hand, also circulated a PowerPoint presentation that said  it was not disregarding the clamor for the conversion into a stock coop but not until August 2016, as decided during Ormeco’s  assembly  on March 26, 2011.

MCOO, banking on the Cooperative Code of 2008, held a member-initiated referendum and gathered 37,268 votes or 30 percent of the 121,626 registered members of Ormeco.

“This is more than 20 percent votes needed for the conversion of the cooperative,” MCOO said in a statement.