NEA supervisor out from Beneco/PMA assailed for fencing out folks to homes

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – At least for now, member-consumers of the Benguet Electric Cooperative can heave a little sigh of relief after the project supervisor appointed by the National Electrification Administration to manage Beneco was ordered transferred to the Pangasinan Electric Cooperative (Panelco) 1.
    NEA officer-in-charge Rosas So Rosero-Lee, in a letter dated Sept. 27, 2021 ordered lawyer Omar Mayo to supervise instead management of operations of Panelco 1.
    Rosero-Lee issued office order no. 2021-1117 series of 2021 saying this was in “consultation with NEA departments to approve or disapprove EC board resolutions.”
    Rosero-Lee ordered Mayo to “sign/countersign checks, slips and other transactions for and in behalf of the EC with all banks where Panelco 1 has any account. All expenses to be incurred in the performance of his duties shall be charged against the proper funds of this office subject to the usual accounts, audits, rules and regulations.”
    Reports have it the purported general manager of Beneco appointed by the NEA board of administrators tried to do it with a wayward Beneco member of the board of directors. They reportedly talked with Baguio banks the Beneco had accounts with and tried to freeze the money.
    MCOs said it would have been a disaster if they would have been able to do it if not for the timely intervention of Beneco management under general manager Melchor Licoben whose appointment as GM by the Beneco Board of directors was ratified by member consumers during their annual general assembly (AGMA) on Oct. 2.
(Please see page 1 and 12 for related articles on the Beneco controversy).
    As things stand now, Beneco operations are reportedly going on smoothly under the management of Licoben.
    What the Beneco needs now, according to MCOs, is for the NEA to stop meddling in affairs of the EC, work within its mandate and not overreach from its functions like in the “appointment” of a GM which created the whole mess in the first place.          
    Meanwhile, MCOs are wondering what the NEA-appointed GM is doing after having rented a space at the YMCA as her office. This is where the four Beneco directors, who were “removed” from their posts as directors by MCOs during the AGMA reportedly go now to hold their so-called group meetings.     
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Fearing they will be displaced, residents at Purok Ongasan, Loakan here sought the help of the city government saying the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) was constructing a perimeter fence which will prevent them from going to their homes.
    Following this, the city council on Monday passed a resolution calling on PMA to discontinue its perimeter fencing project at Ongasan, Loakan saying it affected 150 families, according to a report by Jordan G. Habbiling, staff of the city council.  
Reynaldo Calaycay, president of Bontoc Organization of Purok Ongasan Loakan Inc., reportedly urged stop to fencing saying it will enclose lots occupied by residents.
    The concrete fence to be built will block the entrance and exit of residents and will eventually displace them from their homes, they said.
    The lot in question is covered by Proclamation No. 2405, Series of 1985 which declared certain portions of land of the public domain situated in Fort Gregorio Del Pilar as a military reservation subject to private rights, if any there be. 
The entire reservation covers an area of some 3,731,399 square meters while the residential lot covers 29, 631 square meters.
    Calaycay said the said area had been occupied by their forefathers since World War II and prior to the establishment of PMA. 
    He said the organization tried reaching out to PMA for a dialogue several times but the latter never replied to their request.
    They said they have been seeking the help of the city government for the segregation of their lot from the operation of Proclamation No. 2405. 
    The members and officers of the Bontoc Organization of Purok Ongasan Loakan Inc. requested for segregation survey of said parcel of land. 
    In 2017, the pre-proclamation committee chaired by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) favorably recommended the segregation of the lot and the issuance of a presidential proclamation covering the said lot for housing purposes. 
    The Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources Cordillera Administrative Region (DENR-CAR) granted authority for segregation survey over the area.
    A segregation plan for the said area was prepared and issued by the Land Management Services of the DENR-CAR. 
In 2020, the city council passed a resolution approving the said segregation survey.
    Councilor Fred Bagbagen, chairperson of the city council’s committee on urban planning, lands, and housing, said the city government must urgently act on the matter in favor of the residents.
    Bagbagen said the impending displacement of the residents without due process was a violation of the citizens’ constitutional rights.
    Representatives of PMA failed to attend the forum.
    They were invited again in next Monday’s regular session to explain their side of the story.