Beneco consumers, workers to sue NEA Board over GM tiff

Case set before Ombudsman 

BAGUIO CITY -- A group of member consumers and employees of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO) are preparing anti-graft charges against the National Electrification Administration Board of Administrators (NEA BOA) to be filed before the Ombudsman.
    The BENECO Labor Employees Union (BELU) and BENECO Supervisors Association (BSA) are leading the charge, saying the NEA BOA crossed the line of decency and committed grave abuse of discretion in insisting to endorse lawyer Ana Maria Rafael as the general manager of the electric cooperative.
    The Northern Philippine Times learned from reliable sources that the NEA BOA will still endorse Rafael as GM despite opposition from employees and majority of the BENECO board of directors (BOD) who assailed the legality of said endorsement.
    The BENECO BOD in May this year passed a majority resolution rejecting NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-47 that endorsed Rafael, an assistant secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) in Malacanang, to be the GM.
    The BOD resolution said the NEA BOA flagrantly violated NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035 which prescribed the rules on the recruitment and selection of GM for electric cooperatives.
    The move to sue the NEA BOA before the Ombudsman came after the BELU and BSA got hold of a document issued by the NEA a portion of which said that Rafael is not fit to be the GM of BENECO.
    The document, entitled Memorandum for the Administrator dated Feb. 1, 2021, said “based on the emotional quotient (EQ) test that Atty. Rafael took at the UP College of Psychology, especially focusing on the competencies related to management, she was not recommended for appointment as GM.”
    The communication, signed by Nollie Alamillo, department manager of NEA’s Institutional Development Department, and approved by Edgardo Masongsong, NEA Administrator, still endorsed engineer Melchor Licoben, the OIC GM, and Rafael for final interview before the NEA BOA.
    On August 4, 2021, the BELU and BSA emailed to the NEA BOA a letter asking why the NEA BOA still decided to process the application of Rafael despite records showing she was unfit to become a GM.
    “We also learned that based on the results of the EQ, IQ and essay writing examinations of the two applicants, Engr. Licoben was way ahead in the following categories: IQ and initial interview. Engr, Licoben garnered a score of 96.30% while Atty, Rafael obtained 87.83%” the BSA and BELU letter said.
    They added: “When UP said that she is not recommended to become the GM, why did the NEA BOA still endorse her to be the GM of BENECO?”
    In the letter, the two employees’ groups also took to task the NEA BOA for endorsing Rafael despite the official pronouncements by Alamillo that one of the candidates was not able to present proof of one of the minimum qualifications for the GM position – the five (5) year managerial experience of a successful electric distribution utility.
    The letter cited Alamillo’s statements before the inquiry in aid of legislation separately held by the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Baguio City on May 19, 2021 and the Committee on Energy of the House of Representatives on June 2, 2021.
    The employees asked the NEA BOA to explain why it still decided to give due course to Rafael’s application when Rafael was obviously not qualified.
    The NEA BOA has yet to reply to the letter as of press time.
    The employees said that the NEA BOA was intent in handing over to Rafael the GM position in blatant disregard of the rules and in obvious defiance of the decision of the majority of the Board of Directors.
    The employees pressed the NEA BOA for its reply by invoking their right to public information guaranteed by the Constitution, the Ease of Doing Business Act (RA 11032) and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713).
    The Ombudsman charge will deal on the NEA BOA’s “arrogance and deliberate breach of the rules of GM recruitment which required that the NEA BOA must endorse to the BENECO BOD the names of all applicants to the position who passed the final interview by the NEA BOA.”
    The BELU and BSA said they will also cite the legality of the NEA BOA’s decision to accept the application of Atty. Rafael since there was actually no vacancy in the GM position following the BOD’s decision to already name Licoben as the GM.
    The application was submitted to President Duterte and not before BENECO which is the employer of the GM.
    The NEA also failed to furnish BENECO a copy of such application as a matter of inter office courtesy, the employees said.
NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035 directed the NEA BOA to submit the names of the qualified candidates to the BOD. From the list, the BOD will choose the GM.
    The NEA BOA, however, reportedly tweaked the rules, an act that drew the ire of the employees including Licoben.
In NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-47, the board endorsed to the BENECO BOD only the name of Atty. Rafael since she got a score of 94% in the final interview compared to Licoben who got 82.75%.
    The BENECO BOD rejected the said BOA resolution citing various legal grounds.
Invoking its right as the body empowered to name the GM, the BOD passed Resolution No. 2021-87 questioning Rafael’s credentials and the breach of rules the NEA BOA committed.
    The BOD also reiterated the three resolutions it passed in 2020 naming  Licoben as the GM effective upon the last day in office of then GM Gerardo Verzosa.