Congress sets probe on Beneco GM row

121 electric coops, Partylists, Baguio council hit NEA 

By Jordan G. Habbiling and DC and AD 

BAGUIO CITY – The Lower House is set to probe the National Electrification Administration on June 2 for its alleged “illegal” methods and intrusion on selection of general managers nationwide after all electric cooperatives in the country assailed and opposed its endorsement of a Palace Assistant Secretary to assume as general manager of the Benguet Electric Cooperative here.
    Lawyer Delmar Carino, head of Beneco’s legal department bared this saying the NEA’s board of administrators asked the government agency’s legal department Thursday for advice on its next move after four Partylists associated with the country’s electric cooperatives urged Congress to investigate the controversy surrounding the position of general manager of Beneco.

    The Baguio City Council also called on the NEA Monday to adhere and follow its own policy in selection of general managers of electric cooperatives.

    The NEA has a standing rule stipulating that all GMs (or those applying for GM) of electric cooperatives must be an electrical engineer, worked or managed an EC for at least five years among others.

    The Baguio City council made the stand in a forum Monday regarding issues raised by Beneco board members against NEA’s endorsement favoring lawyer Anna Marie Rafael Banaag, Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communication Operations Office as lone candidate for Beneco GM.

    The Beneco board has issued several resolutions recommending Melchor Licoben as general manager and expressing their opposition against NEA’s single candidate endorsement.

    Licoben, an electrical engineer is now Beneco incumbent officer in charge GM.

    The city legislators said there were lapses on the part of NEA, citing provisions of memorandum No. 2017-35 that were not complied with in endorsing Banaag as GM.

    The Baguio City local government earlier endorsed Licoben as GM.

    The memorandum was issued by NEA in October 2017, spelling out the recruitment policy for general managers of electric cooperatives in the country.

    Nollie Alamillo, chairperson of NEA’s selection committee, admitted that candidate (Banaag) failed to submit documents indicating her five-year work experience in effective management of an electric utility-related business enterprise as required under d.6 of the memorandum.

    The councilors questioned the decision of the NEA selection committee to allow the said candidate to go through the selection process despite the latter’s absence of proof of qualifications.

    According to Alamillo, both Licoben and Banaag passed qualifying examinations and initial interview, underwent background investigation, and advanced to final interview conducted by the NEA BOA.

    The NEA memorandum stated “the list of applicants who passed the NEA Board final interview, with necessary information and results of the background investigation, shall then be transmitted to the Electric Cooperative (EC) Board for perusal and selection.”

    According to Beneco Board president Esteban Somngi, only the name of Rafael-Banaag was forwarded by NEA to the Beneco board.

    Cariño said Licoben should have also been endorsed by the NEA BOA for Beneco’s board of directors’ selection for the GM position as he also passed the final interview.  

    Licoben scored 82.75 percent while Rafael-Banaag obtained a score of 94 percent in the final interview, according to NEA board resolution No. 2021-47.

    Cariño said the decision of the NEA BOA to endorse only one candidate based on results of the final interview violated NEA memorandum no. 2017-35.

    “Nowhere in the NEA memorandum does it state that the applicant with the highest score in the final interview should be the only candidate to be endorsed by NEA to the electric cooperative,” Cariño said.

    On May 19, 2021, the Beneco board in a 6-4 vote rejected the NEA endorsement of Rafael-Banaag and reiterated its previous resolution recommending Licoben for the GM position, saying thet earlier appointed him as GM.

    Lawyer May Flor Abuedo, NEA’s corporate secretary, disclosed Monday the NEA BOA will hold a meeting on May 27, to deliberate on the Beneco board’s decision to reject the NEA endorsement. 

    The city council also urged the NEA to provide the legislative body and Beneco all documents containing results of examinations and background investigation and interviews of applicants, conducted by the selection committee and NEA BOA in aid of legislation.

    Four Partylists associated with the country’s electric cooperatives urged Congress to investigate the controversy surrounding the position of general manager of Beneco.

    Rep. Presley de Jesus (Philreca), Rep. Adriano Ebcas (Ako Padayon Pilipino), Rep. Sergio Dagooc (APEC) and Rep. Godofredo Guya (Recoboda) filed on May 19 a resolution urging the House committee on energy to conduct an inquiry  in aid of legislation on the “overreach of the NEA on the screening and selection of general managers of electric cooperatives.”

    The resolution stemmed from the nationwide protest of the country’s 121 electric cooperatives which staged a nationwide “Black Friday Protest” last May 14 that condemned the manner the NEA BOA processed applicants for general manager of Beneco.

    The Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (Philreca), the country’s mother organization of all electric cooperatives also lambasted the NEA resolution as illegal for having violated NEA memorandum No. 2017-035, the rules governing selection of GMs.

    Philreca cited the protest of Beneco employees and member consumers who said there is nothing in rules that allow the BOA to endorse only the applicant with the highest score in the final interview. 

    More than 14 allied organizations of the electric cooperatives have also filed separate resolutions assailing the BOA resolution, saying it was an attempt to clip the powers of the electric cooperatives.

    The call for a congressional inquiry came after the Beneco BOD  rejected the BOA resolution in a special meeting last May 19.

    In their resolution, the four partylists, known as the “Power Bloc” in the House of Representatives, said the act of the BOA amounted to usurpation of the powers of EC directors to appoint their own GM.

    Lawyer Janeene Depay-Colingan, Philreca executive director said Beneco followed the right process from the very start. “Let it be known: Beneco management and employees, Beneco MCOs, 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.

    Presley C. De Jesus, Philreca president, said “the reason the entire 121 electric cooperatives are up in arms is because the BOA of the NEA violated and breached the very clear processes in hiring and appointing general managers that they themselves approved.”

    “The NEA BOA should not intervene in the affairs and mandate of the electric cooperatives’ board of directors. The BOA committed grave abuse of discretion because the NEA BOA has no power – neither by virtue of Republic Act 10531 nor by any existing regulatory measures – to choose which of the qualified applicants they should endorse to the EC’s BOD based on any arbitrary preference of the NEA BOA,” De Jesus said.

    In joint letter by Philreca and Nagmec (National Association of General Managers of Electric Cooperatives), 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.”

    The Beneco board, led by its president Somngi, earlier assailed the BOA endorsement of Banaag as unfair and utterly without legal basis.

    The board also reiterated the three resolutions it passed in 2020 that named and appointed licoben as the Beneco GM.

    Aside from Somngi, the other directors are Mike Maspil, Rocky Aliping, James Aclopen, Peter Busaing, Luke Gomeyac, (all representing Baguio City), Robert Valentin, Enrique Moresto, Fr. Jonathan Obar, Josephine Tuling and Jefferd Acop (all representing Benguet).  

    “The basis of the BOA to endorse Rafael is her higher score of 94% in the final interview compared to Licoben who garnered 82.75%. But nothing in NEA Memorandum No. 2017-35 states that only the candidate with the highest score in the interview must be endorsed to the BOD. Both of them were qualified. Licoben did not fail the interview. Therefore, both of them must be endorsed to the BOD for selection,” they said.

    NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035 governs the rules of recruitment and selection for the GMs of all electric cooperatives in the country.

    The Beneco resolution rejecting the lone endorsement and the reasons for the decision was forwarded to the BOA for action.

    Under NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035, the BOA has the power to review the board’s decision to reject and should it find the reasons unreasonable, it can endorse other pre-qualified applicants.

    Concerned member consumer owners and Beneco employees, led by the BELU and the Beneco Supervisors Association (BSA) had been holding vigils after office hours since two weeks ago to protest the BOA’s decision to endorse only one applicant.

    “How can the BOA endorse an applicant who is not technically competent to lead an electric cooperative which is a highly technical industry?” the BELU and BSA said.

    The provincial board also recently approved a resolution requesting the NEA to confirm Resolution No. 2020-90 of the Beneco BOD that appointed as new general manager of the electric cooperative vice former general manager Gerardo P. Verzosa who retired from the service effective April 30, 2020.

    The board stipulated that all the municipal governments in the province strongly supported Licoben’s appointment as the new Beneco general manager through the passage of separate resolutions by each of the municipal councils of the 13 municipalities.

    The board added that the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP) Benguet chapter and the Vice Mayor’s League of the Philippines (VMLP) Benguet chapter unanimously passed separate resolutions also strongly supporting Licoben’s appointment and recognized his technical expertise, knowledge of the intricacies of the power industry and experience in managing the affairs of the power distribution as his advantage to sustain the gains of the electric cooperative being one of the top performing electric cooperatives in the country.