Daneco-NEA only to manage Daneco in DOE-initiated multi-party agreement By Cha Monforte, Rural Urban News In dramatic turn of event, an agreement was reached by key stakeholders to put the conflict- and debt-plagued Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative into one management only and it is the Daneco-National Electrification Administration which should and not the Daneco-Cooperative Development Authority starting the coming September 1. In a conference initiated by the Department of Energy and NEA board chairman Carlos Jericho Petilla last Friday at the Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao , governors, congressmen, mayors, CDA officials and the officials of the two electric coop factions engaged in a hostile two-year row agreed to put Daneco’s management under the Daneco-NEA entity in obedience to the existing Writ of Preliminary Injunction (WPI) earlier ruled by the Court of Appeals. Petilla informed conference attendees on the need to have one management to immediately respond to the rising power supply payables of Daneco, stressing that there is an urgent need to avert Daneco suffering the same fate with the Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco) which earlier had its power disconnected by Power Sectors Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM). Attending the conference were CDA Chairman Emmanuel M. Santiaguel, NEA Administrator Editha Bueno, Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario and his Vice Gov. Victorio Suaybaguio Jr, Compostela Valley Governor Arturo Uy and his Vice Gov. Manuel Zamora, Comval Cong. Maricar Zamora and Cong. Rommel Amatong, Davao del Norte Cong. Antonio Lagdameo Jr, 1-CARE partylist representatives Edgardo Masongsong and Michael Angelo Rivera, and the management and board officers of Daneco-NEA and of Daneco-CDA. Conference attendees also expressly agreed that both the factions would be subjected to a mandatory financial audit by an audit them to be composed of auditors from NEA and CDA, which would be continuing even after the Sept. 1 assumption of Daneco-NEA as the sole management of Daneco. “A referendum would also be conducted on the second week of January 2014 to finally resolve whether Daneco’s member-consumers would opt to be stock cooperative or not, strictly following the law and its procedures on how to duly conduct a referendum on conversion of electric cooperatives,” said Gregorio Ybanez, chairman of the board of Daneco-NEA’s directors. Mayors present also agreed to campaign to member-consumers in their respective areas to pay to Daneco-NEA. “With the expressed agreement, this means that Daneco-CDA will die a natural death because it can no longer function after August 31, 2013," Ybanez added. Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperative (Amreco) president Sergio Dagooc hailed the agreement reached as the “ultimate solution” to pestering problem besetting Daneco. The Daneco-CDA faction sprang up after NEA in April 2012 dismissed nine members of Daneco’s previous board of directors and former OIC general manager after they were found guilty of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty. Those dismissed were initiating to convert Daneco into stock cooperative. Daneco-CDA faction sought refuge under the CDA after it conducted its own series of referendum where they claimed the option of converting into stock cooperative won. It was was assailed in court by Daneco-NEA. The Court of Appeals 23rd Division ruled last May 10, 2013 recognizing solely Daneco-NEA and its officers as the legitimate representatives of Daneco pending resolution of an consolidated special proceeding case pertaining to the legality of Daneco-CDA faction and its CDA registration. DANECO covers the provinces of Davao del Norte and Compostela Valley serving 160,601 member-consumers. Once a former top performing electric cooperative, it is now currently considered an ailing electric cooperative beset with myriad of problems because of the two factions competing. It turns out, however, that Daneco-CDA is not paying its power obligations as it does not remit its collections to Daneco’s coffers, even while it is not recognized by other government agencies such as the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Since Daneco-CDA has not remitted its obligations for consolidation of payments, it is Daneco-NEA which pays power obligations but is unable to pay the full amount due to the situation. To date, Daneco has an outstanding power accounts obligations to power suppliers PSALM, NCGP and Therma Marine amounting to over P300 million. (Rural Urban News/Cha Monforte)
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 05:15:31 +0000
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