Cosalan sets P5 M to energize Benguet b’gays

TUBLAY, Benguet – Rep. Ronald Cosalan has set P5 million to energize several barangays in the 13 towns of this vegetable-producing province to cope with their rapidly growing population.

The amount will be chargeable against Cosalan’s Priority Development Assistance Fund next year which will be downloaded to the Benguet Electric Coop. to purchase electric posts that will help string the power lines to depressed communities.

According to Cosalan, energizing remote sitios will spur economic activities.

As long as there are non-viable areas in the province which are not yet energized, the congressman revealed more funds will be allocated from his PDAF in the coming years until such time that all barangays and sitios shall have been fully energized.

Under the guidelines in the allocation of the energization funds, the rural electric cooperative will provide the wires and other units of equipment that will be used in putting power to the households in distant places.

Cosalan will provide the needed electric poles to bring power to the farthest sitio.

The national government is mandated to bring electricity to the countryside through its rural electrification program being undertaken through the National Electrification Administration with the support of power generation, transmission and distribution firms.

|Electricity is an important ingredient of life, thus, we must help our people improve their lives by helping energize our non-viable communities, especially in the mountainous parts of the province,” Cosalan said.

During his previous term as the province’s congressman, Cosalan had been consistent in providing financial assistance to Beneco for the purchase of electric poles that will help bring electricity to the province’s 145 barangays.

The congressman added bringing electricity to the countryside will help increase the number of power consumers that are from Benguet since only 15 percent of the total 120,000 consumers of the electric cooperative are from the province while the remaining 85 percent are from the 128 barangays of Baguio City.

Once electricity will be available in the sitios and barangays of the province, Cosalan asserted more enterprising individuals will be involved in economic activities that will help generate employment and livelihood opportunities which will eventually translate to improved living condition of the local residents thereby signaling better living conditions. – Dexter A. See