Daily prayer rallies held in support of OIC
THE
BOARD OF ADMINISTRATORS of the National Electrification Administration
“referred” Wednesday to the Office of the Corporate Government Counsel (OGCC)
the case of the NEA’s BOD’s endorsement of an Assistant Secretary to sit a
general manager of the Benguet Electric Cooperative earlier opposed by the
Beneco board of directors and all local government units of Baguio and Benguet
including electric cooperatives nationwide and party-lists in Congress.
This, according to sources who said the NEA BOA was “hard-pressed to find a solution to the problem.”
The lawyers of the OGCC represent government corporations before courts and quasi-judicial bodies to render legal opinions, review contracts, investigate administrative cases against officials of government corporations and act as hearing officers in disputes among such corporations.
Congress earlier probed the Beneco issue and grilled the NEA for “violating its rules” in the selection of general managers of electric cooperatives like Beneco.
The Power Bloc of the House of Representatives – Presley C. De Jesus, Sergio C. Dagooc, Godofredo N. Guya, and Adriano E. Ebcas earlier filed House Resolution 1776 urging the House committee on energy to conduct an inquiry on an alleged “overreach of the NEA on the screening, selection, and appointments of general managers of electric cooperatives.”
According to House Resolution 1776, a recent NEA-BOA resolution approved the endorsement of a candidate with a higher score from two applicants who both achieved passing rate in both the pre-screening and final interview stages.
They were referring to Assistant Secretary Anna Marie Rafael Bana-ag of the Presidential Communications Operations Office who was the lone candidate endorsed by the BOA which was opposed by earlier said sectors for being “unfair and illegal.”
“Such act gave the endorsed candidate unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference over the other candidate, current OIC general manager engineer Melchor Licoben, who is equally qualified to be a general manager of the EC,” the Power Bloc said.
Among other requirements, the NEA in a circular earlier stipulated that general managers should be electrical engineers and must have had at least five years work experience in an electric cooperative.
Licoben is an electrical engineer while Bana-ag is not. Licoben had also worked with Beneco for more than 30 years starting from the rank and file.
Beneco employees and member-consumers over the past weeks have been holding prayer rallies at the power cooperative’s compound in Baguio City protesting what they called the unfair and illegal action of the NEA in endorsing Bana-ag by disregarding even its own rules on the matter.
“The power granted to the NEA Board of Administrators by law and to its own issuances is limited only to a mere screening of the applicants for GMs of ECs and to validate if said officials possess all the qualifications required by law and none of the disqualifications, based on established guidelines,” the Power Bloc representatives said in HR 1776.
The solons added the “NEA Board of Administrators have absolutely no power to select and appoint the GM or the power to designate a “probable appointee” for the position of general manager of Beneco.”
The Beneco Board of Directors, had also decided not to act positively on the endorsement of NEA.
Voting 6-4, Beneco’s BOD rejected the proposal and reiterated its previous resolution endorsing and appointing Licoben as its GM.
Lawyer Janeene Depay-Colingan of general manager of Philreca earlier said “the EC (Beneco) has followed the right process from the very start. “Let it be known: Philreca, Beneco management and employee, Beneco member-consumers and our One EC-MCO Movement are not meddling with the mandate of NEA. We are calling out the decision that did not go through the proper procedure to be rectified. We thank Beneco for standing up for what is right,” said Colingan.
“Despite the provisions of the law giving independence to the electric cooperatives to select and appoint its own general manager, the NEA-BOA selected one candidate and approved a resolution endorsing only one of the two qualified candidates for the position of general manager of Beneco,” added Colingan.
Presley C. De Jesus, president of Philreca, said “the reason the entire 121 electric cooperatives are up in arms is because the Board of Administrators of the National Electrification Administration violated and breached the very clear processes in hiring and appointing general managers that they themselves approved.”
“The Board of Administrators should not intervene in the affairs and mandate of the EC’s Board of Directors. The BOA committed grave abuse of discretion because the NEA Board of Administrators has no power – neither by virtue of RA 10531 nor by any existing regulatory measures – to choose which of the qualified applicants they should endorse to the EC Board of Directors based on any arbitrary preference of the Board of Administrators,” De Jesus said.
Philreca and power stakeholders had also urged the NEA BOA to “rectify its error and set aside RB Resolution No. 2021-47 to spare itself from a deluge of serious legal actions and unprecedented rant not just from Beneco’s member-consumer-owners but from the entire Electric cooperatives sector who have the same sentiment on this issue.”
Sources said this was the reason why the NEA BOA referred the case to the OGCC. -- AD
This, according to sources who said the NEA BOA was “hard-pressed to find a solution to the problem.”
The lawyers of the OGCC represent government corporations before courts and quasi-judicial bodies to render legal opinions, review contracts, investigate administrative cases against officials of government corporations and act as hearing officers in disputes among such corporations.
Congress earlier probed the Beneco issue and grilled the NEA for “violating its rules” in the selection of general managers of electric cooperatives like Beneco.
The Power Bloc of the House of Representatives – Presley C. De Jesus, Sergio C. Dagooc, Godofredo N. Guya, and Adriano E. Ebcas earlier filed House Resolution 1776 urging the House committee on energy to conduct an inquiry on an alleged “overreach of the NEA on the screening, selection, and appointments of general managers of electric cooperatives.”
According to House Resolution 1776, a recent NEA-BOA resolution approved the endorsement of a candidate with a higher score from two applicants who both achieved passing rate in both the pre-screening and final interview stages.
They were referring to Assistant Secretary Anna Marie Rafael Bana-ag of the Presidential Communications Operations Office who was the lone candidate endorsed by the BOA which was opposed by earlier said sectors for being “unfair and illegal.”
“Such act gave the endorsed candidate unwarranted benefit, advantage or preference over the other candidate, current OIC general manager engineer Melchor Licoben, who is equally qualified to be a general manager of the EC,” the Power Bloc said.
Among other requirements, the NEA in a circular earlier stipulated that general managers should be electrical engineers and must have had at least five years work experience in an electric cooperative.
Licoben is an electrical engineer while Bana-ag is not. Licoben had also worked with Beneco for more than 30 years starting from the rank and file.
Beneco employees and member-consumers over the past weeks have been holding prayer rallies at the power cooperative’s compound in Baguio City protesting what they called the unfair and illegal action of the NEA in endorsing Bana-ag by disregarding even its own rules on the matter.
“The power granted to the NEA Board of Administrators by law and to its own issuances is limited only to a mere screening of the applicants for GMs of ECs and to validate if said officials possess all the qualifications required by law and none of the disqualifications, based on established guidelines,” the Power Bloc representatives said in HR 1776.
The solons added the “NEA Board of Administrators have absolutely no power to select and appoint the GM or the power to designate a “probable appointee” for the position of general manager of Beneco.”
The Beneco Board of Directors, had also decided not to act positively on the endorsement of NEA.
Voting 6-4, Beneco’s BOD rejected the proposal and reiterated its previous resolution endorsing and appointing Licoben as its GM.
Lawyer Janeene Depay-Colingan of general manager of Philreca earlier said “the EC (Beneco) has followed the right process from the very start. “Let it be known: Philreca, Beneco management and employee, Beneco member-consumers and our One EC-MCO Movement are not meddling with the mandate of NEA. We are calling out the decision that did not go through the proper procedure to be rectified. We thank Beneco for standing up for what is right,” said Colingan.
“Despite the provisions of the law giving independence to the electric cooperatives to select and appoint its own general manager, the NEA-BOA selected one candidate and approved a resolution endorsing only one of the two qualified candidates for the position of general manager of Beneco,” added Colingan.
Presley C. De Jesus, president of Philreca, said “the reason the entire 121 electric cooperatives are up in arms is because the Board of Administrators of the National Electrification Administration violated and breached the very clear processes in hiring and appointing general managers that they themselves approved.”
“The Board of Administrators should not intervene in the affairs and mandate of the EC’s Board of Directors. The BOA committed grave abuse of discretion because the NEA Board of Administrators has no power – neither by virtue of RA 10531 nor by any existing regulatory measures – to choose which of the qualified applicants they should endorse to the EC Board of Directors based on any arbitrary preference of the Board of Administrators,” De Jesus said.
Philreca and power stakeholders had also urged the NEA BOA to “rectify its error and set aside RB Resolution No. 2021-47 to spare itself from a deluge of serious legal actions and unprecedented rant not just from Beneco’s member-consumer-owners but from the entire Electric cooperatives sector who have the same sentiment on this issue.”
Sources said this was the reason why the NEA BOA referred the case to the OGCC. -- AD
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