Beneco MCOs affirm support for Licoben, expel 4 directors
>> Sunday, October 10, 2021
BAGUIO CITY -- The
general manager controversy of the Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) went a
step bolder when the member consumer owners (MCOs) decided to expel the four
minority directors who sided with NEA appointed GM Atty. Ana Marie Paz Rafael.
Invoking their power as the highest deciding body of the electric cooperative, the MCOs also ratified the board of director’s decision to name Melchor Licoben as the Beneco GM and even junked the preventive suspension order issued against Liocben and the seven majority board directors – Mike Maspil, Josephine Tuling, Jeffred Acop, Peter Busaing, Robert Valenin, Fr. Jonathan Obar and lawyer Esteban Somngi.
The Annual General Membership Assembly (Agma) held on Oct 2. (Saturday) also rebuked the designation of lawyer Omar Mayo of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) legal services office as the Beneco project supervisor.
Mayo arrived in Beneco on Sept. 28 to serve the preventive suspension order which the NEA board of administrators issued following an administrative complaint of insubordination Rafael filed against the seven directors and Licoben.
The respondent directors and Licoben cried foul over the preventive suspension order, saying its issuance was premature as there is a pending petition before the Court of Appeals assailing the appointment of Rafael as GM.
The MCOs also declared Mayo and NEA’S board of administrators composed of Emmanuel Juaneza, Agustin Maddatu, Rene Gonzales and lawyer Alipio Cirilo Badelles as persona non grata to Beneco.
Mayo dismissed the move as without basis and called the Agma illegal since he and the four minority directors – Luke Gomeyac, Enrique Moresto, James Aclopen and Rocky Aliping – earlier declared that the Agma shall be cancelled.
Interviewed over Bombo Radyo, Mayo said that even the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) decided that the Agma be deferred but this was quickly dismissed by lawyer Delmar Carino, Beneco’s legal counsel, who said that the CDA’s consent is not needed for the Agma of CDA registered electric cooperatives.
During the Agma, the MCOs affirmed three measures the BENECO BOD unanimously passed last year that named and reiterated the appointment of Licoben as the GM -- Resolutions Nos. 2020-90, 2020-165 and 2020-190.
Aware of the suspension order for 90 days imposed on Licoben and the directors, the MCOs invoked their right as a constituent and membership assembly to decide the direction the electric cooperative must take.
The MCOs said that: “Recent developments have thrown what appears to be a cloud of doubt on the authority of the Board President to preside over this 40th Annual General Membership Assembly or AGMA of the Benguet Electric Cooperative.”
“The authority of NEA to suspend operates only subject to the observance of due process and as an exercise of supervision and not control. There is a distinction. Supervision is not tantamount to control; it does not carry the power to annul or modify decisions of the Board which do not violate the law. What decision did the Board make against the law which could be a basis for disciplinary action?” they continued.
The MCOs then reinstated and affirmed the authority of Somngi, the board president, to preside over the assembly, and the authority of the six other directors to still function in their official capacities.
The MCOs likewise overwhelmingly ratified all the official acts of the BOD that pertained to the appointment of Licoben as the GM, including the BOD’s decision to reject NEA BOA Resolution Nos. 2021-47 and 2021-71 that named Rafael as the GM.
The assembly was hybrid. MCOs were allowed to physically attend the Agma at the Gen. Pedro Dumol Hall of the Beneco headquarters at South Drive, Baguio City while the other MCOs attended through virtual means.
In the same assembly, the MCOs also approved a resolution submitted to the body
by Baguio and Benguet lawyers who called for the filing of the appropriate criminal charges against Gomeyac, Moresto, Aliping and Aclopen for their decision to sign a Performance Management Contract (PMC) with Rafael despite the majority directors’ decision to reject Rafael and sign the PMC with Licoben.
The assembly also called for Pres. Rodrigo Duterte to immediately fire the NEA BOA for issuing orders that were partial to Rafael.
The MCOs assailed the NEA BOA for mangling NEA Memoranda Nos. 2017-035 and 2018-004 when the administrators decided to only endorse Rafael as GM to the BENECO board despite that she and Licoben passed the NEA BOA’s final interview.
“The MCOs have already spoken. The NEA and the others who are opposing Licoben as GM must respect our decision,” a consumer said.
Invoking their power as the highest deciding body of the electric cooperative, the MCOs also ratified the board of director’s decision to name Melchor Licoben as the Beneco GM and even junked the preventive suspension order issued against Liocben and the seven majority board directors – Mike Maspil, Josephine Tuling, Jeffred Acop, Peter Busaing, Robert Valenin, Fr. Jonathan Obar and lawyer Esteban Somngi.
The Annual General Membership Assembly (Agma) held on Oct 2. (Saturday) also rebuked the designation of lawyer Omar Mayo of the National Electrification Administration (NEA) legal services office as the Beneco project supervisor.
Mayo arrived in Beneco on Sept. 28 to serve the preventive suspension order which the NEA board of administrators issued following an administrative complaint of insubordination Rafael filed against the seven directors and Licoben.
The respondent directors and Licoben cried foul over the preventive suspension order, saying its issuance was premature as there is a pending petition before the Court of Appeals assailing the appointment of Rafael as GM.
The MCOs also declared Mayo and NEA’S board of administrators composed of Emmanuel Juaneza, Agustin Maddatu, Rene Gonzales and lawyer Alipio Cirilo Badelles as persona non grata to Beneco.
Mayo dismissed the move as without basis and called the Agma illegal since he and the four minority directors – Luke Gomeyac, Enrique Moresto, James Aclopen and Rocky Aliping – earlier declared that the Agma shall be cancelled.
Interviewed over Bombo Radyo, Mayo said that even the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) decided that the Agma be deferred but this was quickly dismissed by lawyer Delmar Carino, Beneco’s legal counsel, who said that the CDA’s consent is not needed for the Agma of CDA registered electric cooperatives.
During the Agma, the MCOs affirmed three measures the BENECO BOD unanimously passed last year that named and reiterated the appointment of Licoben as the GM -- Resolutions Nos. 2020-90, 2020-165 and 2020-190.
Aware of the suspension order for 90 days imposed on Licoben and the directors, the MCOs invoked their right as a constituent and membership assembly to decide the direction the electric cooperative must take.
The MCOs said that: “Recent developments have thrown what appears to be a cloud of doubt on the authority of the Board President to preside over this 40th Annual General Membership Assembly or AGMA of the Benguet Electric Cooperative.”
“The authority of NEA to suspend operates only subject to the observance of due process and as an exercise of supervision and not control. There is a distinction. Supervision is not tantamount to control; it does not carry the power to annul or modify decisions of the Board which do not violate the law. What decision did the Board make against the law which could be a basis for disciplinary action?” they continued.
The MCOs then reinstated and affirmed the authority of Somngi, the board president, to preside over the assembly, and the authority of the six other directors to still function in their official capacities.
The MCOs likewise overwhelmingly ratified all the official acts of the BOD that pertained to the appointment of Licoben as the GM, including the BOD’s decision to reject NEA BOA Resolution Nos. 2021-47 and 2021-71 that named Rafael as the GM.
The assembly was hybrid. MCOs were allowed to physically attend the Agma at the Gen. Pedro Dumol Hall of the Beneco headquarters at South Drive, Baguio City while the other MCOs attended through virtual means.
In the same assembly, the MCOs also approved a resolution submitted to the body
by Baguio and Benguet lawyers who called for the filing of the appropriate criminal charges against Gomeyac, Moresto, Aliping and Aclopen for their decision to sign a Performance Management Contract (PMC) with Rafael despite the majority directors’ decision to reject Rafael and sign the PMC with Licoben.
The assembly also called for Pres. Rodrigo Duterte to immediately fire the NEA BOA for issuing orders that were partial to Rafael.
The MCOs assailed the NEA BOA for mangling NEA Memoranda Nos. 2017-035 and 2018-004 when the administrators decided to only endorse Rafael as GM to the BENECO board despite that she and Licoben passed the NEA BOA’s final interview.
“The MCOs have already spoken. The NEA and the others who are opposing Licoben as GM must respect our decision,” a consumer said.
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