Beneco board rejects Palace Asec as GM
>> Sunday, September 5, 2021
After heated confrontations
BAGUIO CITY -- Asserting its authority as the
only body that has the power to name and appoint a general manager, the board
of directors (BOD) of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) on August 31
flatly rejected anew the appointment of lawyer Ana Marie Paz Rafael as the new
GM of Beneco.
Rafael was Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office prior to her appointment.
By a vote of six against and three in favor, the majority of the directors thumbed down the decision for the second time of the National Electrification Administration Board of Administrators (NEA BOA) to name Rafael as the GM.
Directors Mike Maspil, Robert Valentin, Fr. Jonathan Obar, Peter Busaing, Josephine Tuling and Jefferd Acop objected to NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-71 that appointed Rafael as GM, saying that the resolution is legally flawed as it violated the power of the board to name a GM as stated in the electric cooperative’s constitution and by-laws and NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035, the rules on GM selection.
The majority also reiterated the resolutions it passed in 2020 naming OIC GM Licoben, an engineer, as the GM effective upon the retirement of former GM Gerardo Verzosa.
The majority also directed Licoben to already sign the one year Performance Management Contract (PMC), an agreement the NEA requires to be inked between the board and a newly appointed GM.
Those who voted to welcome Rafael, a lawyer and former Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), were directors Luke Gomeyac, James Aclopen and Enrique Moresto.
Lawyer Esteban Somngi, board president, did not vote as presiding officer while director Rocky Aliping decided to sit out the proceedings when the board disapproved his motion that only the matter of the signing of the Performance Management Contract (PMC) should be tackled in the special meeting.
A legal battle is expected to heat up as the camp of Rafael called the action of the BOD as unlawful.
In a statement, the group said the board has no more right and power to reject the NEA BOA resolution since under NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035, the board’s acceptance of the resolution is ministerial.
The Rafael camp said that the move of the majority of the board was “ultra vires,” meaning the board acted beyond its powers.
On August 30, 2021, a day before the Beneco board tackled Rafael’s NEA appointment, Rafael, accompanied by a battery of lawyers and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents, managed to breach a barricade at the gates of Beneco and went straight to the Beneco board room.
Rafael wanted to be outrightly recognized and admitted as the new GM since her appointment was “effective immediately.”
Somngi spurned the demand. He said the BOD will still met on Sept. 1 to discuss whether or not the board will accept NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-71.
The stand did not sit well with Rafael’s lawyers, triggering a heated argument against Somngi and lawyer Delmar Carino, Beneco’s corporate legal counsel.
Rafael’s group also threatened to have employees manning the barricade arrested following their refusal to let former city prosecutor Elmer Sagsago and a group of old folks to enter.
Since August 30, Rafael has occupied a corner of the electric cooperative’s Gen. Pedro Dumol hall as her office after the Beneco board ignored her plea for an interim office.
Rafael’s decision to barge in did not sit well with a group of lawyers who are member consumers.
In a press conference on Sept. 2, Jose Molintas, a human rights lawyer and former city councilor said despite the NEA BOA’s resolution saying it is effective immediately, it did not mean that it is self-executory as it is not a court order.
Since there is a Beneco board appointed GM, lawyer Rafael must have gone to court to prove her right to oust Licoben and not by means of show of force, he said.
Molintas lambasted the NEA for overly interfering in the affairs of the electric cooperative, saying the decision of the majority of the Beneco board must be respected since they are the duly elected representatives of the member consumers.
Somngi, who joined lawyers Molintas, Rene Cortes, Allan Mazo, George Dumawing and Rowena Lagasca in the panel, hit back at the four minority directors for disrespecting the decision of the majority directors.
The board president referred to the PMC that the four minority directors signed with Rafael right after the Aug. 31 special meeting that rejected Rafael’s appointment.
The said PMC is a mere scrap of paper, Somngi said, since it was signed contrary to the decision of the majority directors and that the four directors who signed the PMC were not authorized by the board to sign the same.
This prompted Molintas to say that such act of the minority directors could be a ground to remove them from office.
Lawyers Mazo and Lagasca pounced on NEA’s interference on Beneco affairs considering that the electric cooperative is now registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).
For his part, Dumawing said there could be no two GMs in an organization as this will further create confusion and conflict. “The BOD has spoken and its decision must be respected,” he said.
Dumawing was reacting to a suggestion of Sagsago, former city prosecutor, that to break the impasse, Licoben and Rafael will jointly sign all cooperative transactions until such time that the issue is finally resolved.
All Baguio and Benguet top officials including electric cooperatives nationwide had endorsed Licoben to sit as general manager of Beneco.
Rafael was Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office prior to her appointment.
By a vote of six against and three in favor, the majority of the directors thumbed down the decision for the second time of the National Electrification Administration Board of Administrators (NEA BOA) to name Rafael as the GM.
Directors Mike Maspil, Robert Valentin, Fr. Jonathan Obar, Peter Busaing, Josephine Tuling and Jefferd Acop objected to NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-71 that appointed Rafael as GM, saying that the resolution is legally flawed as it violated the power of the board to name a GM as stated in the electric cooperative’s constitution and by-laws and NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035, the rules on GM selection.
The majority also reiterated the resolutions it passed in 2020 naming OIC GM Licoben, an engineer, as the GM effective upon the retirement of former GM Gerardo Verzosa.
The majority also directed Licoben to already sign the one year Performance Management Contract (PMC), an agreement the NEA requires to be inked between the board and a newly appointed GM.
Those who voted to welcome Rafael, a lawyer and former Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), were directors Luke Gomeyac, James Aclopen and Enrique Moresto.
Lawyer Esteban Somngi, board president, did not vote as presiding officer while director Rocky Aliping decided to sit out the proceedings when the board disapproved his motion that only the matter of the signing of the Performance Management Contract (PMC) should be tackled in the special meeting.
A legal battle is expected to heat up as the camp of Rafael called the action of the BOD as unlawful.
In a statement, the group said the board has no more right and power to reject the NEA BOA resolution since under NEA Memorandum No. 2017-035, the board’s acceptance of the resolution is ministerial.
The Rafael camp said that the move of the majority of the board was “ultra vires,” meaning the board acted beyond its powers.
On August 30, 2021, a day before the Beneco board tackled Rafael’s NEA appointment, Rafael, accompanied by a battery of lawyers and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents, managed to breach a barricade at the gates of Beneco and went straight to the Beneco board room.
Rafael wanted to be outrightly recognized and admitted as the new GM since her appointment was “effective immediately.”
Somngi spurned the demand. He said the BOD will still met on Sept. 1 to discuss whether or not the board will accept NEA BOA Resolution No. 2021-71.
The stand did not sit well with Rafael’s lawyers, triggering a heated argument against Somngi and lawyer Delmar Carino, Beneco’s corporate legal counsel.
Rafael’s group also threatened to have employees manning the barricade arrested following their refusal to let former city prosecutor Elmer Sagsago and a group of old folks to enter.
Since August 30, Rafael has occupied a corner of the electric cooperative’s Gen. Pedro Dumol hall as her office after the Beneco board ignored her plea for an interim office.
Rafael’s decision to barge in did not sit well with a group of lawyers who are member consumers.
In a press conference on Sept. 2, Jose Molintas, a human rights lawyer and former city councilor said despite the NEA BOA’s resolution saying it is effective immediately, it did not mean that it is self-executory as it is not a court order.
Since there is a Beneco board appointed GM, lawyer Rafael must have gone to court to prove her right to oust Licoben and not by means of show of force, he said.
Molintas lambasted the NEA for overly interfering in the affairs of the electric cooperative, saying the decision of the majority of the Beneco board must be respected since they are the duly elected representatives of the member consumers.
Somngi, who joined lawyers Molintas, Rene Cortes, Allan Mazo, George Dumawing and Rowena Lagasca in the panel, hit back at the four minority directors for disrespecting the decision of the majority directors.
The board president referred to the PMC that the four minority directors signed with Rafael right after the Aug. 31 special meeting that rejected Rafael’s appointment.
The said PMC is a mere scrap of paper, Somngi said, since it was signed contrary to the decision of the majority directors and that the four directors who signed the PMC were not authorized by the board to sign the same.
This prompted Molintas to say that such act of the minority directors could be a ground to remove them from office.
Lawyers Mazo and Lagasca pounced on NEA’s interference on Beneco affairs considering that the electric cooperative is now registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).
For his part, Dumawing said there could be no two GMs in an organization as this will further create confusion and conflict. “The BOD has spoken and its decision must be respected,” he said.
Dumawing was reacting to a suggestion of Sagsago, former city prosecutor, that to break the impasse, Licoben and Rafael will jointly sign all cooperative transactions until such time that the issue is finally resolved.
All Baguio and Benguet top officials including electric cooperatives nationwide had endorsed Licoben to sit as general manager of Beneco.
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