Court issues TRO vs Beneco Board over gen manager tiff

 Electric coops hold nationwide rallies supporting Licoben 

BAGUIO CITY – Power firms and electric cooperatives held nationwide “Black Friday” rallies May 14 assailing the National Electrification Administration (NEA) for not following rules and regulations in relation to appointment of general managers of power cooperatives nationwide like in the case of the Benguet Electric Cooperative here.
    The cooperatives headed by Party-list Philreca (Philippine Rural Electric Cooperative Association) also denounced the privatization of some electric cooperatives in Visayas Region.
    This, after the NEA’s Board of Administrators (BOA) endorsed the appointment of lawyer Ana Maria Paz Rafael, Assistant Secretary of Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) as general manager of Beneco.
    During rallies, the groups urged the NEA to retract their endorsement of Rafael and urged the appointment of Beneco officer-in-charge general manager Melchor Licoben, an engineer as GM.
    Rafael reportedly lacked qualifications as prescribed by the NEA but the BOA of the government agency still endorsed her.
Rallyists said Licoben was more than qualified having met the NEA guidelines and qualifications.
    A rally was held here at the South Drive Beneco compound.  
    The controversy surrounding the position took a legal twist when a local court directed Beneco’s board of directors (BOD) not to act on the resolution of the NEA’s BOA that endorsed only one applicant (Rafael) to the position.
    Judge Maria Ligaya Itliong-Rivera, regional trial court executive judge of the city, on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) for the BOD to “cease and desist for a period of 72 hours from favorably acting on NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-47.”
    The said BOA resolution endorsed lawyer Rafael to the BOD as general manager of the electric cooperative.
    Under NEA rules, the BOA qualifies and interviews applicants for the GM and endorses the candidates to the BOD.
    The BOD will choose and decide who should be the GM.
    The NEA on May 6 earlier asked the BOD to act on the said BOA resolution on or before May 14.
    The BOD were set to meet on May 14 to discuss the BOA resolution but the TRO stopped them from doing so.
    The RTC held a hearing on the same day to hear arguments on whether or not the 72 hour TRO would be extended to a 20 day TRO.
    RTC Branch 6 Judge Michael Francisco said during the hearing he will release his decision on the matter Monday (May 17).  
    The TRO was issued in connection with the case filed on May 12 by member consumers Benjamin Lorena, Gloria Delmas, Lorenzo Liwan, Lina Agaldang and Sylvia Aquino that sought to nullify the BOA resolution for being void and invalid.
    The petitioners said under NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035, it is ministerial for the BOA to endorse all applicants to become a GM to the BOD as long as they are qualified.
    The BOA resolution, however, only endorsed Rafael to the BOD since she obtained a higher score than Licoben in the final interview conducted by the BOA.
    “The action of the BOA is extremely capricious, clearly unlawful, wanton and malicious. It is a clear abuse of discretion and excessive exercise of jurisdiction,” the petition said.
    The petitioners were represented by lawyer George Dumawing, former president of the Baguio – Benguet chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Phil.
    In the 16 page petition, the five consumers said the NEA BOA disregarded its own memorandum on the selection of a GM since the rules provide that “from the list of names forwarded by NEA, the EC BOD shall select the GM of their choice.”
In endorsing only applicant, the petitioners said that “the NEA BOA appropriated for itself the power of the Beneco BOD to exercise its power to appoint its own GM,” adding that the NEA BOA is ordering the Beneco BOD to act as its “rubber stamp.”
    The case, entitled action for certiorari and/or prohibition, also sought from the court a writ of preliminary injunction in case the court grants a 20 day TRO. 
    The TRO was directed against the BOD but the merit of the case was hurled against the BOA.
    The petitioners said that the BOA resolution disregarded the BOD’s two resolutions passed in 2020 that already named         Licoben as the GM. Licoben was the assistant general manager when the BOD issued his appointment.
    The appointment meant there was no vacancy for the position of GM but the NEA still accepted and processed the application of Rafael.
    Despite her lack of qualification and absence of a vacant position for GM, the NEA BOA gave due course to her application, the petitioners said. Worse, she was endorsed alone to the BOD based solely on her higher score in the final interview by the BOA, they said.
    “NEA memorandum no. 2017-035 does not provide that a higher score in the final interview is a qualification for appointment as GM,” they said.
    The petitioners added that Rafael should have been outrightly disqualified since she does not have an experience of at least five years in managing an electric utility related business.
    Such qualification is mandatory under NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035, they said.
    All local government units of Benguet including Baguio City earlier endorsed Licoben’s appointment as general manager citing his expertise and qualifications.
    Party-list groups like Philreca, a nationwide association of power cooperatives had also endorsed Licoben to sit as Beneco GM, saying rules on appointment were not followed by NEA.