Face-saving over recycled violations

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- Wear that mask. Covid-19 is still here. No less than President Bongbong Marcos caught it for the third time last Wednesday. Despite completing his vaccines, he still caught the virus. It means, BBM has been meeting lots of people. So the health officials around him would have to contact-trace those he had been in contact with.
    Dropping by the city hall last week, I chanced upon councilors Art Alladiw and Peter Fianza at the stairs leading to the mayor’s office. Prevailing issues and problems with no foreseeable solutions in the nearest future were the topics at that instant meeting.
    A few of the fleeting topics we talked about that continue to haunt the city council no end were the segregation of barangays from the Camp John Hay land area and the 19 Conditionalities that were hinged on the approval of the BCDA law.
    But what was more interesting was the topic that was timely for the season. Since the main ingredients in producing a Christmas Village are the decors and twinkling lights powered by electricity, then this is a project that is best offered to no other than the Benguet Electric Cooperative.
    The idea was brought out by Councilor Fianza to which Councilor Alladiw and I agreed without thinking. The idea should be studied by Beneco considering that it is in the business of providing electricity and possesses the needs for the project, including the lot area.
    Talking about Beneco, as far as the electric power consumers and members see it, no election for a legitimate set of Beneco board of directors for all districts will be happening this month as announced. Not even in January or February.
    Why? The indicators toward an election are not there. No registration of bets, no schedule, nothing. The fake and unelected board will stay. The consumer-members say they sat there without spending time, money and effort; nor blood, sweat and tears. They have tasted the spoils. What more can you ask?
    Saving face! When I heard one of the former directors say that the authority over electric cooperatives was saving face for its series of lapses, violations and unexplainable actions, I retorted that how can that be when in the first place there was no face to save.
    Then one of them butted in by saying that I was not accurate because the concerned national agency cannot even face the issues over Beneco because in the first place it has no face. Its order to put an interim board consisting of individuals who are not members of Beneco prior to the order was already a violation.
    They have not even participated in general membership assemblies, they have no electric meter under their name, and some were suspected of not residing inside Beneco’s franchise area. These were corrected to suit the requirements after their appointment to the interim.
    So more rules were violated in the attempt to correct previous violations. Violations of rules overlapped previous violations. Violations of rules started when the unanimous selection of Engr. Mel Licoben as General Manager by the elected and genuine Beneco board was not accepted by the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
    Instead, they endorsed an unqualified person, removed the elected Beneco board and installed an interim board consisting of a number of members that is lesser than its actual quorum. For how long they will stay there, no one knows. What is known is that they draw money from the coffers of Beneco and would continue to do so for as long as they are there.
    Fast forward to the present, the NEA had no one to “recycle” but Engr. Licoben as he was the most qualified. He “re-applied” along with others and risked a case in relation to his removal by the NEA that was still undecided by the court.
By the way, supporters had already applauded GM Licoben as they all had done so many times over when he was selected as GM by the elected board prior to the mess brought about by the actions of the NEA.
    When GM Licoben and I chanced upon each other during the wake of a relative, I congratulated him for finally being selected, not “appointed” as some quarters would want the public to know.
    Those are two distinct things. When one applies for a position along with a few others, the most qualified is selected from among the applicants. If one gets appointed, the appointee would be under the control of the appointing authority. 
Naturally, he thanked me with that ever present smile. But immediately remarked: “No, I was not selected. I was re-selected.” Those were his words. I said, “Well you saved the face of those who wanted to install another GM instead of you.”