Beneco workers: Asec as GM ‘unacceptable’
>> Tuesday, August 31, 2021
NEA ignores House status quo order; picket held
BAGUIO CITY
-- Saying the selection process for general manager was rigged, employees of
the Benguet Electric Coop. (Beneco) declared on Friday as persona non grata the
National Electrification Administration’s Board of Administrators (NEA BOA) and
lawyer Ana Marie Paz Rafael.
Rafael is at present an Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).
The employees said the NEA BOA and Rafael are “unwelcome and unacceptable” in Beneco and vowed they will resist any attempt to install Rafael as GM in placeof Melchor Licoben, the current officer in charge general manager.
The declaration came while representatives of the NEA delivered NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-71 on Friday that named Rafael as the GM of the electric cooperative.
The delivery created tension as employees barricaded with trucks and vehicles the two entrances of the Beneco headquarters here at South Drive as police kept watch.
Employees said they were determined not to allow the NEA personnel to enter premises of the electric cooperative.
The blockade was set up after employees were tipped that Rafael will accompany the service of the NEA BOA resolution and be installed right then and there as the GM.
Rafael was nowhere in sight during the brief discussion that ensued following receiving of lawyer Esteban Somngi, Beneco board president, of the resolution naming Rafael as the GM.
Employees swamped with placards of protest lawyer Xerxes Adzuara and Percival Crisostomo of NEA Institutional Development Department who were tasked by NEA to physically deliver the NEA BOA resolution. .
Somngi told NEA personnel while the resolution was received, it does not mean that the board has acceded to Rafael sitting as GM.
He said the board will still act on the NEA BOA resolution whether to accept or reject it in the board’s regular session on Sept. 2, 2021.
Majority of the directors are expected to reiterate their rejection of Rafael as they did when they passed BOD Resolution No. 2021-71 that declared as illegal the NEA BOA’s resolution No. 2021-47 that failed to include Licoben in the endorsement sent to the board despite having passed all qualifications of the GM position and the final interview by the NEA BOA.
Somngi, who received the NEA resolution near the guardhouse of the Beneco headquarters instead of the board room, said it will still be up to the board to decide the fate of Rafael , hinting that that the board directors already named Licoben as the GM in April, 2020 last year by a unanimous vote.
Next week’s board meeting is expected to divide anew the directors just like what happened when the board was confronted with NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-47 that named Rafael as the only endorsee.
Directors Jefferd Acop, Mike Maspil, Josephine Tuling, Robert Valentin, Fr. Jonathan Obar and Peter Busaing voted to reject Rafael while directors Rocky Aliping, Luke Gomeyac, Enrique Moresto and James Aclopen voted in favor of Rafael.
The employees, led by Jefferd Monang, Beneco Employees Labor Union (BELU) president, and Jason Wayet, Beneco Supervisors Association (BSA) president, said the NEA BOA clearly violated the rules on the selection of GM.
The union and the association have accused the NEA BOA of being biased and prejudiced in favor of Rafael despite her not having possessed the academic qualification for the GM position and the managerial experience of a distribution utility.
The employees displayed placards that denounced the NEA.
“No to takeover” said one of the placards.
The NEA BOA’s decision to serve the resolution to the Beneco board of directors disregarded the status quo order issued by the Committee on Energy of the House of Representatives that conducted an inquiry on August 18 on the possible overreach of the NEA on the selection of a GM for Beneco.
The committee directed the NEA BOA not to issue any order or memorandum naming Rafael as GM while the committee is preparing its final report.
The NEA BOA also set aside the recommendation of its legal services office that the service of the resolution be deferred out of respect and courtesy to the decision of the legislative committee.
Licoben said he was elated that no untoward incident happened when the NEA personnel arrived to serve the resolution.The NEA BOA got a beating from a congressional panel on Aug. 18 following the government agency’s failure to strictly observe rules on selection of a general manager for Beneco.
Rafael is at present an Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).
The employees said the NEA BOA and Rafael are “unwelcome and unacceptable” in Beneco and vowed they will resist any attempt to install Rafael as GM in placeof Melchor Licoben, the current officer in charge general manager.
The declaration came while representatives of the NEA delivered NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-71 on Friday that named Rafael as the GM of the electric cooperative.
The delivery created tension as employees barricaded with trucks and vehicles the two entrances of the Beneco headquarters here at South Drive as police kept watch.
Employees said they were determined not to allow the NEA personnel to enter premises of the electric cooperative.
The blockade was set up after employees were tipped that Rafael will accompany the service of the NEA BOA resolution and be installed right then and there as the GM.
Rafael was nowhere in sight during the brief discussion that ensued following receiving of lawyer Esteban Somngi, Beneco board president, of the resolution naming Rafael as the GM.
Employees swamped with placards of protest lawyer Xerxes Adzuara and Percival Crisostomo of NEA Institutional Development Department who were tasked by NEA to physically deliver the NEA BOA resolution. .
Somngi told NEA personnel while the resolution was received, it does not mean that the board has acceded to Rafael sitting as GM.
He said the board will still act on the NEA BOA resolution whether to accept or reject it in the board’s regular session on Sept. 2, 2021.
Majority of the directors are expected to reiterate their rejection of Rafael as they did when they passed BOD Resolution No. 2021-71 that declared as illegal the NEA BOA’s resolution No. 2021-47 that failed to include Licoben in the endorsement sent to the board despite having passed all qualifications of the GM position and the final interview by the NEA BOA.
Somngi, who received the NEA resolution near the guardhouse of the Beneco headquarters instead of the board room, said it will still be up to the board to decide the fate of Rafael , hinting that that the board directors already named Licoben as the GM in April, 2020 last year by a unanimous vote.
Next week’s board meeting is expected to divide anew the directors just like what happened when the board was confronted with NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-47 that named Rafael as the only endorsee.
Directors Jefferd Acop, Mike Maspil, Josephine Tuling, Robert Valentin, Fr. Jonathan Obar and Peter Busaing voted to reject Rafael while directors Rocky Aliping, Luke Gomeyac, Enrique Moresto and James Aclopen voted in favor of Rafael.
The employees, led by Jefferd Monang, Beneco Employees Labor Union (BELU) president, and Jason Wayet, Beneco Supervisors Association (BSA) president, said the NEA BOA clearly violated the rules on the selection of GM.
The union and the association have accused the NEA BOA of being biased and prejudiced in favor of Rafael despite her not having possessed the academic qualification for the GM position and the managerial experience of a distribution utility.
The employees displayed placards that denounced the NEA.
“No to takeover” said one of the placards.
The NEA BOA’s decision to serve the resolution to the Beneco board of directors disregarded the status quo order issued by the Committee on Energy of the House of Representatives that conducted an inquiry on August 18 on the possible overreach of the NEA on the selection of a GM for Beneco.
The committee directed the NEA BOA not to issue any order or memorandum naming Rafael as GM while the committee is preparing its final report.
The NEA BOA also set aside the recommendation of its legal services office that the service of the resolution be deferred out of respect and courtesy to the decision of the legislative committee.
Licoben said he was elated that no untoward incident happened when the NEA personnel arrived to serve the resolution.The NEA BOA got a beating from a congressional panel on Aug. 18 following the government agency’s failure to strictly observe rules on selection of a general manager for Beneco.
The House Committee on Energy, smarting from the evasive if not
confusing answers of the BOA represented by Undersecretary Emmanuel Juaneza of
the Department of Energy, directed the BOA to observe “status quo” until the
committee finally issues its report.
The “status quo” order means that the BOA should not issue any order or
resolution enforcing its earlier decision to name Rafael as the GM of Beneco or
risk courting contempt proceedings.
Engr. Melchor Licoben, who sits as the OIC GM, has been named as GM by
the Beneco Board of Directors in April last year but the NEA BOA endorsed
Rafael instead, prompting employees to protest.
The House Committee on Energy, chaired by Rep. Juan Miguel
Macapagal Arroyo, called for the inquiry
in aid of legislation to look into the possible overreach by the NEA as a state
regulator over the operations of the country’s 121 electric cooperatives.
Partylist members of the so-called “power bloc,” Rep. Presley de Jesus
(PHILRECA), Rep. Sergio Dago-oc (APEC), Rep. Adriano Ebcas (Ako Padayon) and
Rep. Godofredo Guya (RECOBODA) urged the committee to call for the inquiry
after the Beneco Labor Employees (BELU), Beneco Supervisors Association (BSA),
department managers and the board of directors cried foul over the BOA’s move
to endorse Rafael as the GM despite lacking the qualifications and managerial
experience prescribed for GMs of electric cooperatives.
Central to the inquiry was how the BOA understood NEA Memorandum No.
2017-035 that set the qualifications and process on the selection of GMs.
The memorandum states that the names of all GM applicants who passed the
final interview must be submitted to the EC board of directors for the board to
choose from.
De Jesus grilled Juaneza on the qualifications of Rafael and on why the
BOA endorsed only her as GM to the Beneco board.
“The provision says the names of
all those who passed the final interview shall be transmitted to the EC board,”
de Jesus said.
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