Saturday, June 25, 2011
NEWLY elected members of the Board of Directors of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) are set to take their oaths of office Saturday during the electric cooperative's Annual General Membership Assembly (AGMA) at the University of St. La Salle Coliseum.
Ceneco’s outgoing president Edward Gasambelo is set to deliver his report to the consumer-members about the accomplishments of his administration.
During the AGMA, various concerns are expected to be raised.
Among such issues is the legality of Friday’s election in District 6 (Bago City), which resulted to the unopposed victory of Jacinto Torres after the court lifted the Temporary Restraining Order asked by outgoing director Raul Alvarez who was disqualified by Ceneco’s election screening committee when he sought re-election.
Atty. Nilo Sorbito, chairman of the District Election Committee (DECOM) which supervised the Bago polls, pointed out that the election held Friday has the go signal of the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
Sorbito stressed that the Ceneco board, in coordination with NEA, has decided to hold election for District 6 on Friday so that Bago City could have a representation during the AGMA Saturday.
The DECOM, disclosed Sorbito, was tasked to ensure that the election Friday was held peacefully and orderly.
“The election was long overdue. It was not done in a rush,” Sorbito said.
Meanwhile, Roy Cordoba, incoming Ceneco director representing District 4 – Bacolod East, blasted Friday’s special elections for District 6 (Bago City), calling the exercise "illegal".
Cordova stressed that the special election was part of the maneuvering of some officials in the Ceneco Board to control the policy-making body of the electric cooperative.
Cordova, together with newly elected members of the board and two incumbent officials, were attending a seminar in Cebu under the auspices of NEA when he heard reports that Ceneco officials approved and ordered the conduct of the election in District 6 Friday.
According to Cordova, the special board meeting authorizing the special election was held by the Ceneco Board only last Wednesday. It was presided by Gasambelo with directors Roberto Montelibano of Murcia, Michael Maravilla of Silay and Luis Cuenca approving the holding of the election.
The said approval was done without a quorum by the members of the board and that it was an outright betrayal of other members of the board whom the electric coop sent to attend a seminar in Cebu, declared Cordova.
Based on the by-laws of Ceneco, Cordova asserted that a special board meeting can only be held 72 hours after giving prior notice to all officers and directors.
Cordova, who was the former president of Ceneco’s employees’ union, revealed that the decision of Gasambelo’s group to call for special elections was prompted by the lifting of the TRO against such election.
He alleged that, upon holding of the copy of the court’s decision, Gasambelo’s group immediately initiated the special elections without considering the possible filing of a Motion for Reconsideration of Alvarez before the court.
Alvarez, who is seeking re-election for his post, was earlier disqualified by Ceneco’s election screening committee. The disqualification was a consequence of the decision of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) to reinstate Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. as Ceneco general manager following his illegal dismissal by the Ceneco Board headed by then president Vicente Sabornay, with the backing of directors Alvarez, Roberto Benedicto and Julius Tamayo.
NLRC ordered the said directors to pay the approximately P1 million damages incurred by Lagarde. Alvarez's alleged failure to settle such damages was the basis for his disqualification from seeking re-election.
Contrary to what Ceneco claimed, Cordova insisted that the special election in Bago City did not have authorization from NEA and, thus, it was considered illegal.
Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on June 25, 2011.
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