July 3, 2018 | 7:58 pm
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has
signed into law the bill creating the Electric Cooperatives Emergency and
Resiliency Fund (ECERF), officials said.
House Majority Leader Rodolfo C.
Fariñas distributed on Tuesday copies of the letter sent by Executive Secretary
Salvador C. Medialdea to Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, confirming the law’s
signing on June 29.
The law will go into the books as
Republic Act 11039, ECERF Act. It aims to assist to Electric Cooperatives (ECs)
affected by natural disasters to restore and rehabilitate damaged
infrastructure.
The National Electrification
Administration (NEA) will be tasked to coordinate with the National Disaster
Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) in coming up with policies for
the implementation of the law.
Under RA 11039, ECs will be required
to submit comprehensive and integrated disaster management programs, which will
be evaluated by the NEA and NDRRMC. These include Emergency Response Plans,
Vulnerability and Risk Assessments, and Resiliency Compliance Plans, among
others.
Based on these submissions, the NEA
will produce its own National Electric Cooperatives Emergency and Resiliency
Plan (NECERP) to be integrated with the NDRRMC Plan.
The law mandates that P750 million
of NDRRMC funds be allocated for the initial implementation of the ECERF Act.
The NEA may also receive “donations in the form of funds, materials or
equipment, whether local or international, intended for the express purpose of
restoring or rehabilitating” power facilities.
RA 11039 consolidates Senate Bill
1461 and House Bill 7054 and was approved by the Bicameral Conference Committee
on March 7, 2018. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
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