NEA to fully rehab problem Albay power co-op in 6 months

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TUESDAY, 01 MARCH 2011 19:53 MANLY M. UGALDE / CORRESPONDENT 

LEGAZPI CITY—The National Electrification Administration (NEA) said it would fully rehabilitate the problem Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco) in six months.

NEA department manager Pauline Lopez, designated Aleco chief operating officer, told reporters that everything is on its way to Aleco rehabilitation saying, however, that  the cost of the rehabilitation will not come from the Aleco coffers. He refused to elaborate.

NEA took over the management of Aleco three weeks ago following a final disconnection threat on Feb. 4 from the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) for failing to pay P1.3 billion in electricity bills.

As a condition for aborting the disconnection threat, the PEMC demanded the takeover of Aleco by NEA and the resignation of the Aleco board of directors, said Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda.

Rene Tronqued, Aleco board president, had said the Aleco board complied with the demanded resignation only to avoid the disconnection. He refused to elaborate. A week before the resignation of the board members, the cooperative terminated Aleco general manager Alex Realoza following pressures from the Church, militant groups and the Aleco employees union.

Prior to the NEA take-over, a crisis management committee was formed headed by Bishop Joel Baylon of the Diocese of Legazpi with Albay’s three district representatives and the Ako Bicol partylist as members. The crisis committee had recommended among others the full audit of Aleco starting in 1989.

But lawyer Bartolome Rayco of the multisectoral stakeholders group warned of the hidden agenda by NEA, saying the six months promised for Aleco’s rehabilitation was “plain and simple” privatization efforts.

Rayco said Salceda is a major player behind Aleco’s privatization which his group including the Church is strongly opposing.

Rayco said the Aboitiz group has been secretly tapped to take over Aleco which now own the Tiwi Geothermal power in Albay. He said Aleco as a cooperative run by the board of directors is still the best option, saying a sound management would make the bankrupt Aleco a better cooperative. He said NEA eventually would turn over Aleco to Aboitiz in six months. Aboitiz would settle Aleco’s more than P3 billion debts and declare Aleco a sound power firm free from debts and fully rehabilitated.

Dubbed as class model cooperative in the early 1980s, Aleco is now a problem cooperative, said Salceda.

According to documents, NEA had handled Aleco management rehabilitation efforts for 18 years since 1989. The four-page chronological events prepared by the Aleco board, however, showed better management results under the Aleco board compared to the NEA management, said Realoza who added that the NEA was the alleged cause of Aleco’s downfall.

Realoza explained that after Typhoon Reming in November 2006 the government poured P250 million for Aleco’s rehabilitation in 2007 under the Calamity Assistance Rahabilitation Efforts (CARE).

Realoza explained that the devastated Albay province received electrification after two months of blackout when dozens of successful power cooperatives in the country voluntarily extended operational support to restore the badly damaged Aleco.