Stealing chances while in power

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY -- For more than three decades, the Benguet Electric Cooperative struggled to reach its present status as one EC in the country under the Class AAA category for painstakingly implementing the Rural Electrification Program (REP) in non-viable areas of Benguet.

Along the way and while energizing thousands of houses under the REP of the government, Beneco was able to achieve a single digit systems loss and a hundred percent collection efficiency. That is a hard feat to beat especially when the EC’s operation is in a mountainous region as compared to ECs operating on flat lands.

To reach Class Triple “A” status in the operation of an electric company, it needs the expertise of highly disciplined field engineers and office workers. Engr. Melchor S. Licoben who rose from the ranks has dedicated around 30 years of his professional life to Beneco and was certainly part of the team that brought the EC to greater heights.

Thus, the board of directors put their full support behind Engr. Licoben and endorsed him to the National Electrification Administration as the General Manager to take the place of retired GM Gerardo P. Versosa who was equally unwavering, passionate and dedicated to serving Beneco for around three decades.

Through resolutions, Baguio City and the Province of Benguet, the 13 municipalities of Benguet and its League of Mayors and Vice Mayors, several barangays and associations, the Baguio-Filipino Chamber of Commerce, press clubs, police organizations and several chapters of Liga ng Mga Barangay in Baguio and Benguet, various MCOs (member-consumer-owner) organizations, MOPRECO (Mtn. Province), and the four partylists in congress such as Philreca, RECOBODA, APEC and Ako-Padayon to name a few, have endorsed Engr. Licoben as the new GM.

I am citing all of the above to tell every Tom, Dick and Harry that for one to apply for the position of GM of an electric service provider, one should have sacrificed part of his life in the company, has the skills and know-how in running an electric utility and has knowledge about the complicated management work.

It is not a political position that anybody can steal and be appointed to just because he is close to the powers that be. What is important but dangerous at the same time is that an applicant has to get the approval of thousands of Beneco’s member-consumers who can assemble against something they do not like.

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On a recent trip to Bokod, Benguet; I chanced upon energetic Mayor Thomas Wales Jr. who confirmed that there were no positive cases of COVID-19 infection in his town. This could be attributed to the discipline of his constituents in obeying the simple health protocols that are required to fight the pandemic.

That is good news. The bad news is that a couple of road projects under the DTI-DPWH convergence program in Benguet are being constructed in the wrong places. Mayor Wales identified the projects as the “Improvement of Baguio-Bontoc Rd. junction at the Guiweng section, leading to Nawal-Tickey-Daclan, and the construction of one bridge.

The road projects are within Barangay Tickey, Bokod but are not on the correct roadline. Certainly, when the road projects will be reported as complete, they will not serve their purpose because they were constructed on a dead-end roadline. This is taxpayers’ money wasted.

The road improvement projects were identified sometime in 2017 to gain access to coffee farms in the Bokod area and as a gateway from the Gurel-Abatan road, passing through Daclan-Tickey-Nawal and exiting to Halsema highway.

What puzzles anyone’s peaceful mind is how come with all the brilliant engineers employed at the DPWH-Wangal Benguet Engineering District, the correct spot for the road projects were not properly relocated, as if deliberately transferred to benefit one’s wishes.

The District Engineer has to be reminded that executing a government-funded road project on the wrong site is a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019). Which reminds me that a couple of years ago, Senator Lacson slammed the DPWH for “incompetence” in the implementation of the Labey-Lacamen road BLISTT project.

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 While the transmission of Covid-19 worldwide is unstoppable, there are many among us who take advantage of the situation for their personal ends, whether they are in the private sector or in government.

Take the continuing probe over billions of pesos allegedly corrupted by PhilHealth officials. Payment for hospital bills of patients who are members of PhilHealth is the responsibility of the insurance company.

This is the point where crooked company officials in collaboration with hospital administration take undue advantage of the trust and innocence of the patient. In many cases, patients will not see the hospital’s charges especially for dialysis treatment unless they request for a journal.

For most patients, while they wish to get out of the hospital as quick as possible, it is also important to them that they are not asked to pay for the dialysis sessions.

Last year, a former employee of a dialysis and laboratory facility in Novaliches, Quezon City, accused his former employer of filing PhilHealth claims for dialysis sessions on behalf of a patient who already died, claiming that PhilHealth continued to pay without verifying the claims.

The former dialysis center worker said the patients in these instances do not find out that the management had filed payments for ghost dialysis sessions on their behalf because PhilHealth does not send out benefit payment notices.

In addition to erring dialysis centers, there were other health cases that were investigated such as cataract operations as claimed by dishonest opthalmologists and surgeons who made false claims for incision and drainage.

This manner of money transfer from PhilHealth to private medical practitioners that started a decade ago or more has become widespread. If that has lingered for years, then such irregularities are already known by company directors and officials in all levels. It is also familiar to senators who were part of PhilHealth then.

There are now at least four bodies involved in investigating PhilHealth officials accused of corruption charges, namely; the senate and the lower house, the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission plus another team from Malacanang.

While many in the health insurance company are presidential appointees, some of them may be stealing the chance to make it big while they are in position. That should urge investigators to agree with a lawmaker’s suggestion that all PhilHealth officials, including those in the regional offices should be removed in order to keep the documents from being tampered.